Gajevy Week 2017
by Where'sTheFood
Summary: My contributions for Gajevy Week 2017. Summary for each prompt in each chapter. Rated M for violence and Gajeel's potty mouth. Day6: Downpour of the heart (Grief) Leave a review! (My stories will be a little bit more Levy-center but still Gajevy all the way!) Completed!
1. Romance through Bachata (Warm-up)

**So, this is my first time participating in the Gajevy week and I'm super excited about it. I would love to get some feedback on my writting (English isn't my first language, so your feedback would be very appreciated). I tried to do this warm-up prompt into a one-shot of about 1k or 2k words, but I just couldn't stop myself when I got to write this down. The inspiration came from my best friend who went through something similar to what Levy will go through in this story.**

 **Hope you like it!**

 **Summary** : Modern-AU Levy flies to Cancun, wishing to relax and have fun there. Faith gets her meeting Cana which introduces her to her crazy friends, one of which captures Levy's heart instantly. The night has many surprises for the blunette and for her new person of interest. Drinks, dances and a bonfire at the beach is the perfect set for love to bloom. Especially when Gajeel teaches Levy how to dance bachata and sparks fly all around them.

 **Words: 8,022**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail characters or the song "Propuesta indecente" by Romeo Santos (put that on youtube when Gajeel starts to sing [because obviously I needed to put Gajeel singing sexy spanish lyrics])**

* * *

"Urgh! I can't believe them!" a furious Levy exclaimed while closing her hotel room's door quite roughly. Said room was being shared with 3 of her closest friends from the university's book club.

The four girls had agreed to go in a vacation after the semester ended and bought their tickets to go to Cancun, one of the most popular beaches in Mexico. The original plan was to have fun and get a little crazy after the stress of the exams. Well, that's what Levy thought was the original plan.

Once they got into the airplane to go from Austin to Cancun, Trish, Sasha and Clem rounded up on Levy and told her they were going to play nice and not go out to nightclubs or bars. Levy's jaw hung down a little bit in disbelief. All she had been looking for in this trip was to have fun and have couple of drinks and maybe meet new people, but her friends had a completely different idea about what a vacation in Cancun meant.

She had hoped that maybe once arriving to the hotel and seeing the beautiful beach that was just around the corner of their hotel, her friends would change their minds. She had been so wrong…

After having lunch at the hotel's all-you-can-eat buffet, her three friends decided to go and take a nap. Levy suggested going to the beach and relaxing under the sun, but they just refused saying that they didn't wanted to get sunburn. _Really?! You fly all the way to Cancun and you don't want to get sunburn!_ Levy almost yelled at them but decided to let it slide. Maybe after sleeping a little bit, they would be in a better mood to go out and explore the city. Wrong again.

After the 2 hour nap, Clem turned on the TV to find that there was a Harry Potter marathon, to which Sasha and Trish got super excited and settled down on their beds to watch the TV. Levy ignored them and decided to go for a walk at the beach all by herself. _Maybe they'll get bored and we'll go out to a bar later tonight_ she thought. Wrong!

When she came back to the hotel room, it was past 8 pm and the sun had long hid behind the horizon. Levy steeled herself to try to convince her friends to go for, at least, one drink at the hotel's bar. They obviously refused, saying that they were too tired and that there was still two more films before the marathon ended.

That's when Levy snapped. She locked herself in the bathroom and took a quick shower. She then put on her night black dress and arranged her blue curls in a messy high ponytail with a thin black headband holding up the loose strands that tried to cover her face. She applied a little bit of makeup on her face and sprayed her neck with her favorite perfume. She gave herself a quick look in the mirror and decided she was ready to go.

When she got out of the bathroom, her friends stared at her in confusion on why she had prettied up for. "Well, even if you don't want to go out, _I_ do! So I'm heading to the hotel's bar. Don't wait up on me" Levy stated with a posture that emanated confidence. She grabbed her black 5-inch heels along with her purse and walked out the door. Her friends called after her, telling her it was dangerous to go out alone and that she shouldn't go, but Levy was beyond the point of listening them.

Which takes us to where this story began.

"Urgh! I can't believe them!" Levy put on her heels and hastily walked up to the elevator that would take her to the first floor. She was beyond furious! All she wanted to do was to let loose a little bit, but her friends were just too tied up!

Even when Levy wasn't a frequent drinker, she felt the urge to drown her frustration in alcohol.

Once she got to the first floor of the building, she made a beeline to the bar's counter and sat down on one of the empty stools. She propped her elbows on the bar and covered her face with her hands, groaning in frustration. She didn't noticed the strange look the brunette sitting to the right was giving her.

"Tough night, eh?" she said while sipping beer from her mug.

"You have no idea" Levy snorted and looked up to her side to acknowledge the woman. She saw a tall slender woman with brown hair, wearing a red bikini top and tight black jeans. Levy suddenly felt a little self-conscious when she noticed the huge breasts of the brunette and she made an effort not to cover her small chest with her hands.

The woman smiled down to her and extended her hand, which Levy took in hers. "Cana Alberona"

"Levy McGarden" she replied. Then, Cana pulled Levy's hand forward, reached down and kissed Levy's right cheek. Levy pulled back blushing intensely at the gesture. She was just trying to be friendly but maybe this girl was looking for something else that Levy couldn't give her.

Cana cackled loudly. "Yer not from around, right?" Levy shook her head from side to side saying 'no' which earned her another loud laugh from the brunette "That's how we say 'hi' here in Mexico. Don't freak out about it"

Levy smiled at her explanation and laughed nervously "Sorry. Yeah, I just got here today"

"Well, let's give you a proper welcome" Cana exclaimed before downing her beer in one swift motion. Then, she jumped to the other side of the counter and ducked behind it. She grabbed two shot glasses and a tequila bottle from under the bar, she prepared two lime slices with salt, one for Levy and the other one for herself, and finally placed everything on top of the counter.

"So, we are going to play a little game now" Cana said while pouring tequila on the glasses. "Basically, it goes like this. Ya tell a story about anything that happened ta ya and I'll try to guess if it's true or false. If I'm right, ya drink, if not, I drink. Then, I'll tell a story and you try to guess and so on until someone calls it quits. What da ya say?"

Levy took a moment to think about the proposition. It looked like fun and this Cana girl seemed friendly. "Alright, then. You go first" Levy grabbed her lime and her tequila shot. Cana nodded in agreement.

"Okay. So, one time a guy tried to beat me at a drinking contest. After the 20th mug of beer the guy collapsed on the floor, completely wasted and he had to pay for my tab. He ended up paying for 60 drinks in total: he drank 20; I drank 40" Cana said and laughed loudly at the memory of that night.

"Oh, God! That's totally unrealistic! I'll say it's false" Levy said with confidence. She didn't believe there would be someone capable of drinking that much.

"Take the shot. 'Cuz it's totally true!" Cana cackled and Levy grimaced at the taste of the tequila going down her throat. "Lime, lime!" Cana signaled her to bite the lime with salt to ease the taste of the alcohol in her mouth.

Levy shivered but then felt warmth spreading in her chest and up to her cheeks. She laughed while Cana filled up her shot with more tequila. "Really? 40 beer mugs?! That has to be a world record"

"Haha! Not really, just one typical night-out" Cana winked "Okay, now it's yer turn"

Levy hummed and touched her lips with her index finger, thinking on a good story. "One time, a guy dumped me because he said he couldn't go out with a girl who could insult him in at least seven different languages. He said that it would be embarrassing whenever I spoke with a foreigner and he wouldn't know whether I was making fun of him or just indicating where the bathroom was"

Cana laughed again. "No way! Yeah, men are fucking scumbags but 7 languages? Yer what? 19? Ain't possible for ya to know 7 languages already. I say false"

Levy grinned "Actually, I'm 22, but thanks. And I happened to be fluent in _more_ than seven languages and my story is totally true! So it's your turn to drink. _¡Salud!_ ( **transl.** Cheers!)" Levy said and gestured to Cana to down her tequila shot.

The brunette laughed "Man, 7 languages, really? _¡Y hablas español!_ ( **transl.** And you speak Spanish!)"

Levy giggled " _Así es mi amiga_ ( **transl.** That's right my friend). I'm still learning though"

"Ha! I definitely need to introduce ya to my friends. I have a hunch they'll love ya! Especially Lucy" Cana said and raised her shot "For ya, Levy McGarden. The woman that can tell a man in seven different languages to fuck off" Cana downed her drink with expertise and Levy laughed at the praise.

"I mean it, eh! If ya have no plans, we're going to a nightclub and then to the beach. Wanna tag along?" Cana filled up her glass with more tequila.

"Sure! Why not? Besides, my friends just ditched me to stay in our room watching TV"

"Ha! Too bad for them. They'll miss all the fun. Cheers for an amazing night!" Cana raised her glass again and it clinked against Levy's. The girls downed their shots and with one last bite of her lime, Levy took her purse and looked at Cana.

"Hey Cana, how much is it going to be for the drinks?"

"How would I know? I don't work here" Cana shrugged her shoulders and put away their shot glasses and the tequila bottle.

"Wait! What?!" Levy shrieked.

"Alberona! Get the fuck away from my booze!" a man shouted from the far end of the counter. The bar had been so crowded that none of the bartenders seemed to have notice Cana on their side of the counter, filling up tequila shots and handing them to Levy, free-of-charge.

"Shit! Make a run for it!" Cana jumped over the counter and grabbed Levy's hand.

"What?!" Levy repeated in a high pitch tone and scrambled out of her stool to rush to the front door with Cana. "Wait a sec" she told the brunette and then leaned on the outside wall of the hotel to take off her shoes. There was no way they would escape with her running in her 5-inch heels.

They resumed their run until they were a couple blocks away from the hotel. Levy sat down on a bench to recover her breath and Cana started to laugh loudly "That was fun! Ha!"

"That wasn't funny! I thought you worked there!" Levy frowned angrily at the brunette

"I never said I did" She laughed again and Levy couldn't hold on to her anger and started giggling as well. "Come on, Lev. I'm meeting with my friends in the next corner"

Levy hesitated for a second. She didn't knew this girl _that_ well to follow her blindly. As far as she knew, Cana could be a mass murderer that was taking her to an alleyway where she'll stab her to dead. Maybe Levy had been watching too many 'Criminal Minds' episodes as of recently. Besides, the alternative to follow Cana was just too depressing. Returning to her room when it wasn't even midnight didn't sound like fun at all.

With a deep breath, Levy decided to trust Cana and followed her. _What could go wrong?_

* * *

"Guys! Let me introduce ya to Levy. Levy, these are my friends. They aren't as crazy as they look like, but I wouldn't get too close to Natsu if you want yer dress to keep from catching on fire" That's how Cana introduced Levy to the peculiar group of six people.

After the awkwardness of being greeted with kisses on her right cheek by complete strangers subsided, Levy started to chat with one of the girls of the group, finding a lot in common with her. She introduced herself as Lucy, a college student who wanted to publish her own novel, and soon enough the two girls started to talk non-stop about books and Levy's fascination with reading.

The rest of the group was very interesting indeed and soon Levy found herself comfortable walking with all of them towards a nightclub at the end of the street. At the front of the group, Juvia, a fashion design student, clung with both her arms to Gray, a professional hockey player. Lucy explained that she met both of them three days prior and that they- well, Gray actually, flew to Cancun for his two-week vacations and Juvia just followed him.

Behind them, Natsu, a backpacker who just travelled all the way up from South America, yelled something at Gray about him being an 'ice princess' and taunting him into a fight. Lucy told Levy that Natsu was something akin to a pyromaniac and that in the four days that she had hang out with him, he had managed to set half of Lucy's skirts on fire.

At the rear of the group, Cana was chatting up with Lily, a pilot who just recently graduated from flight school. Even with his big body, Lily seemed to be quite a nice person, sending off a warmth aura around him. Not at all like the last guy that completed the group.

His name is Gajeel. Well, that's what Lily had called him when he scolded him for glaring at Levy when Cana introduced her to the group. The first thing Levy noticed was his toned body and when he crossed his arms over his chest, Levy started to wonder if his black shirt was about to tear apart from the strain his big muscles put on the fabric. Then, she noticed his piercings and she couldn't stop herself when she started to count them in her mind: three above each of his eyes where his eyebrows were supposed to be, two on each side of his nose, two below his lower lip, five on each ear and four studs on each forearm. The third thing about this man that caught Levy's attention were his eyes. Red ruby orbs seemed to pierce into her soul when she crossed her gaze with his. When she realized she had been staring at him for longer than meant to, Levy forced her gaze away from him, blushing from embarrassment at her obviously ogling the man. It didn't go unnoticed by Gajeel who snickered and said "Like what ya see, shortstuff?" _That_ caused her face to flush even more from embarrassment but she managed to make it look like it was out of anger at the nickname.

Gajeel was walking beside Lily, seemingly not interested at all in the conversation between him and Cana, and Levy couldn't help to look over her shoulder directing her eyes to him. There was something incredibly fascinating about this man. Out of everyone from the group, Levy knew the least about him and it just helped to peek up her curiosity. Cana told her that both Lily and Gajeel were also Mexicans and that's as far as she knew about Gajeel. She wondered about him more and more, why does he have so many piercings? What does he like to do? What are his dreams? Levy's mind started to race with lots and lots of questions about the mysterious man that she craved to know more and more. Especially because when she had crossed her eyes with his, her heart started to beat faster in her chest and her stomach did a funny flip that almost got her giggling like a high school girl. _Almost_. Levy would burn all her books and eat the ashes before she was caught giggling and fawning like a high schooler over some guy. Even when that guy looked like he had been chiseled by gods. Even when his smirk was so goddamn sexy that-

"A picture lasts longer" he said in his gruff voice. Shit! She had been caught staring at him, _again_. She turned her gaze to the front of the group and tried to ignore the booming laugh he let out at her expense. It hadn't even been more than 15 minutes since she had met the guy and he somehow had managed to embarrass her twice.

His laughing subsided with a loud slap to the back of his head, courtesy of Lily. "Hey! What was that for, Lil'?"

"Come on, Gajeel, play nice" Lily chided.

"Try to flirt like a normal person fer once, Stud Face" Cana commented.

"O-Oi! I ain't flirting!" he exclaimed and Levy could swear she heard his embarrassment in his voice.

She didn't dare to look back, unless she risked to be caught once again staring at him. Instead, Levy looked at Lucy who was on her right and she saw the blonde looking back and smirking. Then, she turned back to Levy and whispered in her ear "He's blushing." Levy giggled and finally took a quick glance at the black haired man that was truthfully blushing while glaring at both Lily and Cana.

Levy had to admit that Gajeel looked cute when flustered. So long, this night seemed to be getting even better.

* * *

"So Levy, had ya ever dance bachata before?" Cana asked but Levy barely managed to hear her from all the noise inside the nightclub.

They managed to get inside and secure a table for themselves, which was now full of empty glasses and mugs, mostly thanks to Cana. When the DJ started to play a random bachata song, Juvia convinced/dragged Gray to dance with her on the dance floor. Natsu somehow saw that as a challenge and grabbed Lucy walking quickly to where the other two were. Now, Cana, Lily, Gajeel and Levy were the only ones sitting at the table.

Levy couldn't help but stare at the dance floor, watching all the people dancing. It was a smooth dance, sexy, fiery and so alluring to the eyes of the blue haired girl. It was as if the couples were flirting with their bodies; eyes locked between both of them, girls swaying their hips sexily, guys holding the girls so close to their bodies that they even looked like puzzle pieces fitting together and moving around like one. She couldn't suppress the sudden desire to dance like that, to have someone holding her like she was the sexiest woman in the world, to have someone looking at her like she was the only thing that matter at that moment.

Levy snapped her head back to Cana when she felt her place her hand over her shoulder. "Geez! Stop drooling all over the table. If ya want to dance so bad, go for it" she said louder and closer to Levy's ear so she could hear her.

Levy blushed and laughed sheepishly "Even if I wanted, I can't. I don't know how to dance like that" she pointed to a guy that twirled the girl around and when she was about to get out of his reach, he moved to catch her hand and pulled her back to him.

"Ha! That ain't a problem! Ya see, Lily here is the best teacher ever and Gajeel is quite a good dancer himself when he's not brooding" Cana pointed out to each of them.

"I heard ya, Drunkard!" Gajeel yelled at her over the loud music.

"That was the point, Stud Face! Ha!" Cana turned back to Lily then "Hey Lil', could ya teach Levy the basics of bachata?"

"Sure!" Lily stood up and extended his hand to Levy, which she took eagerly. She was so excited to learn this type of dance. They didn't walk all the way up to the dance floor since it would be easier for Levy to learn in a less crowded space. So, they just took a couple steps away from their table and prepared for dancing.

"Okay, you just follow my lead, alright?" Lily held Levy's right hand in his left and placed his right hand on the small of her back. Levy placed her left hand on Lily's bicep and nodded at him.

Looking down at their feet, Levy tried to follow each of Lily's movements. She took two steps for each sway they did, trying to copy what Lily was doing with his own feet. It didn't matter if it was right, left, back or front; two steps needed to be taken and the direction of the sway was decided by Lily. Still, sometimes she tried to guess where the next sway was directed to and ended up stepping on Lily's foot once or twice... or thrice.

Gajeel laughed loudly whenever Lily would reach down to rub at his almost-impaled foot. Levy felt embarrassed each time and apologized profusely to Lily.

After several attempts on dancing, Levy gave up before she would break any of Lily's toes with her heels. They walked back to the table and sat down with Cana and Gajeel.

Cana patted Levy on her back sympathetically "Don't worry, Lev. No one nails it in the first try" Levy just groaned in annoyance at her clumsiness.

"Hey! I know! Why don't ya try dancing with Gajeel?" Cana suggested and an evil plan started to formulate in her mind.

"Huh? And why him?" Levy asked confusedly.

"Well, he taught Juvia how to dance and as you can see she became quite good at it" Cana pointed to Juvia who was dancing like a professional with Gray. Levy's jaw hung loose in astonishment "Ha! Who could guess that just last night she learned how to do that?"

"What?! She's that good after just one night?!" Levy turned to look at Cana to see if she was bluffing.

"That's right! I tell ya, if anyone can teach you how to dance bachata is Gajeel" Cana said proudly and then turned to shout at Gajeel "Oi, Stud Face! How about ya try to teach Levy how to dance, eh?"

"Eh?! And why the hell would I do that?"

"Well, Levy over here thinks that there's no way ya can be a better dancer or teacher than Lily. I told her ya are and we bet that if ya two can dance one song without her stepping on your foot, she'll pay for the next round of drinks. If ya fail, I'll pay for it. What da ya say?" Levy wailed her hands in front of Cana's face asking her to stop. The brunette gave a quick glance at Gajeel's angry expression and then leaned down to whisper in Levy's ear "Don't worry. He heard nothing about the bet. The idiot always hates when we tell him Lily can best him at anything. Men are so predictable, ha!" she winked.

"So Studds, are ya in or what?" Cana asked Gajeel.

"There's no way in hell Lily can be better than me!" Gajeel roared and stood up angrily "Come on, Shrimp! Time for ya to learn how to dance!" he hauled Levy by her hand up to the dance floor.

" _¿Qué estás tramando ahora, Cana?_ ( **transl.** Cana, what are you scheming up now?)" Lily asked when he scooted closer to the brunette to have a better sight of the two new dancers approaching the dance floor.

" _Nada, pero te apuesto una ronda de shots que se besan antes de volver a la mesa_ ( **transl.** Nothing, but I bet ya the next round of shots that they'll kiss before coming back to the table)" The brunette said and extended her hand to Lily.

" _Doblo tu apuesta a que se besan hasta el final de la noche_ ( **transl.** I double your bet that they'll kiss by the end of the night)" Lily grabbed Cana's hand to seal their deal. Their eyes returned to the two persons involved in their bet.

"Gajeel! Wait a sec, I'm gonna fall!" Levy yelled at him but she was ignored by the big man who kept dragging her to the middle of the dance floor. He stopped when he found an empty space in the dance floor and turned around to hold her the way Lily had held her previously. Though, this time Levy blushed at being held so intimately by Gajeel.

"First rule, Shorty: Don't look at yer feet or ye'll end up tripping. Second: feel the music. Third: follow my lead. Fourth: have fun" Gajeel stated and held her closer to his body. Her torso was just mere inches from his well-toned abdomen and Levy had to use every ounce of will for her hands not to roam all over his body feeling each and every one of his muscles. God, why did he have to be so damn sexy!?

Levy squealed slightly when she felt him placing his leg between hers. It definitely was a very intimate position and Levy couldn't stop the blush that spread through her face. "Relax, this way it's easier for ya to follow my movements" Gajeel said in a somehow calm voice. The tension left Levy's shoulders and she took a deep breath to calm her heart's pounding in her chest.

"Ready?" he asked to which Levy nodded and she placed her hand over his broad shoulder while he held her other hand in his. ( **A/N** You may want to play the song "Propuesta indecente" by Romeo Santos on youtube or something. It makes this part even more sexier)

They started to move at the music's rhythm and Levy found herself doing her best not to look down to her feet. Instead she looked directly to Gajeel's face and soon she was entranced by those ruby eyes that had caught her attention since the first moment she saw them. In her dazed state, she didn't notice when they started to sway from left to right, turning around in perfect synchronization with the music.

She didn't notice either when she started to move her hips to the song's rhythm, in the same motion as Gajeel moved his shoulders. She recognized the song to which they were dancing. It was a popular bachata song and she found it to be a quite enjoyable tune to listen. When she focused in Gajeel's face again she noticed he was having fun. His previous annoyed expression was missing in his face; instead, his features looked relaxed. Levy assumed Gajeel really enjoyed dancing and something inside her fluttered at knowing just a little bit more about him. When the chorus of the song started, Gajeel sang along with it.

 _Si te invito una copa y me acerco a tu boca  
Si te robo un besito haz ver que no vas conmigo_

 _Qué dirías si esta noche te seduzco en mi coche  
Que se empañen los vidrios  
Y la regla es que goces_

Gajeel pushed Levy at arm's length, holding both her hands. Then, while still holding her hands, he pulled one of his hands over his head and placed their linked hands on his shoulder opposite to her position, and his other hand came down to her lower back. Now, they were dancing side by side, still holding hands and swaying left to right without breaking eye contact. He kept singing the chorus and Levy was entranced by his deep and sweet voice.

 _Si te falto el respeto y luego culpo al alcohol  
Si levanto tu falda me darías el derecho  
A medir tu sensatez  
Poner en juego tu cuerpo  
Si te parece prudente esta propuesta indecente_

He let go of her hand that was over his shoulder and Levy pulled it back sliding it over the back of his neck and over his other shoulder, leaving a tingling sensation in Gajeel's skin where her hand had just been. Then, he used his hand that was on her lower back to twist her around pulling her back to him with a little more force than intended to. She placed her free hand over his chest to steady herself and then they continued dancing to the sound of the music.

They didn't notice that more and more people were looking at them and creating more space for them to dance on the dance floor.

"Yer not bad at this, Shorty" Gajeel started a conversation to distract his mind from the tingling sensation every one of her touches left in his body. God! She felt so good in his arms and every curve of her body seemed to fit perfectly in every dip of his. But the most marvelous thing about this girl were her eyes. Two hazel pools seemed to absorb all the light surrounding them, leaving Gajeel completely blind and befuddled with just a quick glance into them. He began to feel like he was falling for her very quickly, but that was just messed up, wasn't it? He just met her and barely knew anything about her. But something deep inside him was telling him not to let go of her.

"You're not a bad teacher either" Levy complimented. She was so dazzled by the way this man treated her that she just gave up in trying to control the way her heart fluttered when he touched her. The gentleness with which he held her had captured her heart and she soon realized she was falling for him, and falling hard. This was all so new for her; sure, Levy had been attracted to other guys in the past, but not with the intensity she felt towards Gajeel. She couldn't help but crave for more of his touches and she started to wonder whether his lips would be soft if she dared to kiss him.

The music switched to a more smoother tone within the same song and now both Gajeel and Levy started to sing.

 _How about you and I_

 _Me and you_

 _Bailamos bachata_

He pushed her away at arm's length again and pulled one of his arms over her, twirling her in a half-turn and pulling her closer to him again.

 _Y luego_

 _You and I_

 _Me and you_

 _Terminamos en la cama… Que rico…_

Gajeel had his arms on Levy's waist, holding her hands in his. Her arms were crossed over her abdomen and her back was pressed against Gajeel's broad chest. He placed his head over her left shoulder and she kept her gaze fixed on his face. They kept singing while dancing from left to right, swaying their hips in perfect synchrony.

 _How about you and I,_

 _Me and you_

 _Bailamos bachata_

 _Ayy bailamos bachata…_

More and more couples in the dance floor stopped their dancing to look at them. It wasn't that they were dancing spectacularly, but the attraction that could be felt in the atmosphere surrounding them was just so entrancing that their spectators couldn't help but stare at them.

 _Y luego_

 _You and I_

 _Me and you_

 _Terminamos en la cama… Terminamos en la cama..._

Gajeel brought his nose and mouth closer to Levy's exposed shoulder, hovering just inches over her white skin. Her smell was amazing and he took his time to engrave it into his memory. He closed his eyes enjoying her scent and letting himself be surrounded by it.

At the same time, Levy felt a shiver travelled all the way down through her body when Gajeel's hot breath brushed against her skin. She closed her eyes as well, letting herself get lost in the pleasure this man was giving her with just the minimum touch. She instinctively arched her head to the other side to let Gajeel's breath wash over every inch of skin on Levy's neck. She craved more, oh she craved for so much more and the fact that she could still be standing and dancing when she felt so weak on her knees was beyond Levy's comprehension.

The pace of the music started to pick up and so did their movements.

 _How about it you and I… You and I…._

 _Me and you… Me and you…_

 _You and I… You and I…_

 _Me and you… You…_

 _You and I… You and I…_

 _Me and you_

 _Me and you… Youuu…_

With one last sway to the right, Gajeel pulled Levy's hands over her head and turned her around to face him. Without letting go of her hands, he pulled her closer to him and placed her hands behind his head, releasing them slowly to the music's rhythm. She picked up from there and while locking her eyes to his, she slided her hands from the back of his neck down to his shoulders and then to his chest. The movement was slow and sexy and Gajeel used all his willpower not to moan at her caresses. Still, he couldn't help how the hairs in his arms bristled by the excitement this woman was causing in him and he forced himself to place his hands on her waist, even when he wanted to touch her in other places that wouldn't seem appropriate in public.

The music started to subside with the end of the song and Gajeel took hold of Levy's hands one last time and twirled her around. At the last note of the music, he leaned to his side, holding Levy's back with one hand and her right hand with his left one. Levy followed the movement and leaned back letting Gajeel hold her weight with the hand he had on her back. With this position, their faces came closer and closer that his breath was ghosting over hers. If she pushed up the slightest, their lips would meet in the such anticipated kiss. Both of them had their eyes half-lidded and seemed to be in a trance where nothing else existed but them.

They were brought out of their stupor by a loud cheer and catcalls from the people around them. Gajeel and Levy jumped up at the noise and took one step away from the other, blushing profusely when they realized the position they had been just seconds ago. Their audience kept whistling and clapping at them until Gajeel exploded "OH! JUST SHUT THE HELL UP!"

He grabbed Levy's hand and walked hastily back to their table, Levy keept up with the pace of his long strides. Both of them tried very hard to control their thundering hearts. The dance had been simple and smooth, but at the same time, it had been so intimate and passionate for both of them. Levy didn't felt like that at all when she danced with Lily, and Gajeel was sure as hell that he had never felt that way when he had danced with other women in the past. It had been something special, unique, and even when both of them were stubborn, they weren't _that_ stubborn to try to ignore the spark that ignited between them during their dance.

When they returned to the table, Cana was complaining to Lily about something 'not being fair' and that 'they had been this close'. Then she ordered a round of shots for everyone and no one asked anything further.

Levy sat down beside Cana and Gajeel returned to his seat at Lily's right. Both of them tried to look past the embarrassment they felt after their dance, but they found themselves locking their gazes time and time again, which Lily and Cana found to be very amusing.

* * *

"Natsu! Be careful! That's my purse!" Lucy shouted at the pink haired guy that was way too excited about the bonfire they just lighted up at the beach.

After they had dance and drink for a couple of hours, the group decided to head out to the beach that was behind Cana's house. Who would have thought that Cana lived in one of the most expensive parts of the city and owned a house with a private beach as the backyard? It was now 4 in the morning and they were seated around the small bonfire, telling jokes and funny stories about everything and anything.

Cana had been nice enough to lend the girls a change of clothes, so now Lucy, Juvia and Levy wore short shorts and plain t-shirts instead of their night dresses, which had been put away in Cana's room along with the girl's shoes. The boys decided to leave their shoes and pants in the house as well, so now Gray, Natsu, Lily and Gajeel were only in their shirts and boxers. They were all sitting comfortable around the bonfire on a couple of beach towels that Cana lent to them.

"Hey Gray! Betcha can't beat me in a race to the water!" Natsu yelled and started to sprint towards the ocean.

"You Flame Brain idiot! As if you could win against me!" Gray also took off quickly, running at high speed after Natsu.

"Gray-sama~! I'll follow you to the end of the world! Nothing will keep us apart my true love!" Juvia exclaimed and took off as well, skipping happily after his loved one.

"Natsu! That's my phone you have in your hand! Give it back you idiot! If you ruin it, you're going to pay for a new one, you hear me?!" Lucy yelled after the pink haired man and ran after him to retrieve her cellphone.

"I'll make sure no one drowns down. That would just ruin our night. Care to join me Cana?" Lily stood up and brushed off the sand from his boxers and extended his hand to Cana.

"Ha! Wouldn't miss the beating Lucy is about to give to Natsu" Cana took Lily's hand and stood up, holding closely one bottle of whiskey. Together, they walked up to the shore calmly, making fun of the four persons that were already knee-deep into the water.

Levy noticed then that she had been left alone with Gajeel, which she didn't minded at all but she soon felt a little awkward since her mind seemed to be blank at trying to find one simple topic for conversation with the man. They were silently watching the embers of the fire and Levy noticed that it wasn't an uncomfortable silence at all. Somehow, she enjoyed the Gajeel's company, even when they didn't have anything to talk about.

"Ya know they did this on purpose right?" Gajeel broke the silence and Levy looked at him questioningly. "Ya don't have to stay here with me if ya don't wanna" he looked away shyly.

"I like your company Gajeel" she replied honestly and he almost got whiplashed from turning his head so fast to look at her.

"R-Really? Well, that's a first…" he scratched the back of his head sheepishly "The only ones that put up with me are Lil' and Drunkard, and I'm pretty sure there must be something wrong with them"

She giggled "That's not true. You seem to get along fine with Natsu, Lucy, Gray and Juvia as well. And even when each of them has their perks, they can't be all crazy, right?" As if on cue, some loud yells were heard from the water and Levy somehow deciphered them.

'Natsu! Give me back my t-shirt! And my bra!'

'Try to catch me, Luce!'

'Gray! Put on your boxers!'

'When did that happened?!'

'Gray-sama~!'

'Haha! Ya owe me a six-pack Lil'. Told ya he'd end up naked before sunrise!'

Levy and Gajeel sweatdropped at their friends' antics. He cleared his throat before continuing with the conversation "Well, I know them just for a couple of days back. Bet they wouldn't stand me for a week"

"I wouldn't mind spending a week with you" Levy paused when she realized she had said that out loud, clear enough for the pierced man to hear her. She blushed intensely and burrowed her face in her hands when Gajeel laughed loudly at her slip of tongue.

"Gihi! Geez, ya don't have to throw yerself at me, Shrimp!" he smirked and laughed again.

"Stupid Gajeel!" she huffed but couldn't stay mad at him for long. His laugh was very unique and it somehow eased down all the embarrassment and anger within Levy.

Gajeel finally calmed down and swiped away an imaginary tear from his eye. "How long have you known Lily and Cana?" she inquired.

"Hmm. I'd known Lil' since I can remember. He had been there for me at every rough time in my life and I couldn't be more grateful for that. About 4 years ago, before he went to flight school and I went to college, we went on a road trip and one of our stops was here, Cancun. That's when we met Drunkard. After that, we have come here once a year to catch up with her" Gajeel smiled at the memory.

"That's nice. It's so good that you have such good friends" she admired the way the light from the bonfire reflected on Gajeel's face and made his piercings shine in the night.

"How about ya? Don't tell me ya came to Cancun all by yerself?"

"Hehe, funny story. I came here with my friends but it ended up being not as I expected it to be" she sighed "That's what happens when you make plans with people you know for barely six months"

"Hey, ya just met all of us tonight and I'm sure ya had fun, right? Ya just got bad luck with yer friends"

Levy smiled at Gajeel "You're right. Thanks" Another comfortable silence passed between both of them.

"And what about yer boyfriend?" Gajeel asked without looking at her

"Huh?"

"Ya know, why didn't ya came here with him?"

"Are you asking me _if_ I have a boyfriend?"

"N-No…J-Just trying to make conversation, that's all" Levy didn't missed the nervousness in his voice but decided to not push it.

"Well, I don't have a boyfriend"

"Good… I-I mean…" he started to sweat from embarrassment. "S-So, would it be okay if I treat ya to lunch? Maybe tomorrow?" he gulped in anticipation at her answer.

Levy stared wide-eyed at him "You're asking me out? Like, out out? Like, out on a date?"

"It doesn't have to be a date if ya don't want to. Besides, yer the one who said ya wouldn't mind spending a week with me" he smirked at her trying to cover up his eagerness to know her answer.

Levy blushed again and cleared her throat before answering him "Sure. I'll love to go out on a date with you" she smiled brightly at him.

"Really?! I-I mean, cool! Then it's set!" he smiled at her as well and soon they looked like two beautiful dorks in love just staring and smiling at each other.

They kept chatting about their lives. She told him about her dream of owning a bookstore and he told her about him wanting to open up his own mechanic workshop. She told him about the day her parents died and he told her how his father raised him all by himself. He told her that one time when he was little he ate a nail, and she confessed to him that the scar on her forehead was caused by a heavy book that landed on her head.

They talked and talked about deep stuff and about everyday shenanigans. Eventually, they laid down on the sand and soon found themselves deep asleep cuddling with each other. The rest of the group made it back from the water after they fell asleep and decided to leave them right there, while they made it back inside Cana's house. Lily snuck out of the house and covered the couple with a blanket before going back inside.

* * *

With the first rays of sun hitting her in the face, Levy stirred up from her sleep state and opened up her eyes slowly, just to find herself looking straight into Gajeel's face. He was still asleep and had his arms wrapped around Levy's waist and his legs entangled with hers.

She couldn't hold in the smile that surfaced in her face at remembering everything that happened the night before, everything from their dance to their late-night conversation. With every second that she had spent with this man, Levy found herself falling more in love with him. She gave up on trying to convince herself that his wasn't love and that she was fooling herself for thinking like that, because no one had swept Levy off her feet like Gajeel had in just one night without even trying. If that wasn't love, then Levy had no idea what was it.

She used this moment to appreciate the soft expression in Gajeel's face. He seemed so peaceful at that moment that she couldn't believe this was a man that wore a scowl in his face most of the time. The piercings on his face glinted with the light of the sun and she started to trace each one of them with her index and middle finger.

He stirred in his sleep at her ministrations and soon his eyes blinked slowly, getting rid of the drowsiness. He smiled down at her and locked his gaze with hers. "Morning, Shrimp"

"Morning, Gajeel" she beamed at him and then pushed herself up to a sitting position. He followed her and they stretched their arms and backs getting rid of the stiffness in their muscles.

"Guess the idiots left us out here on our own" Gajeel grunted while folding the blanket.

"Probably" she giggled.

"Come on, Shorty. I'll walk ya to yer hotel. Yer friends are probably wondering where the hell have you been all night" He stood up and held a hand out to her.

"Oh, God! You're totally right! Thanks" she took his hand and stood up as well.

They went inside Cana's house to leave the blanket in the living room and for Levy and Gajeel to grab their clothes before heading out to Levy's hotel. They enjoyed their stroll and kept conversing about anything that came to mind. When they arrived at her hotel, she gave Gajeel her phone number and waved goodbye to him. Before she was out of reach, he pulled her close to him and kissed her on her right cheek.

"That's how we say goodbye here in Mexico" he smirked at her flustered expression but sooner than expected she recovered and she placed one kiss on his cheek as well. Now was Gajeel's turn to blush and she took the opportunity to escape into the building, making her way up to her room.

Before entering the room, she checked her cellphone and indeed found that there were several missed calls and text messages from her friends. She sighed, resigned to be yell at for her recklessness.

She opened the door slowly, trying to be as quiet as possible as to not alert her friends of her arrival, but it was pointless. Once she entered the room, she noticed her three friends standing in the middle of it with angry expressions.

"Hey, girls" she waved at them but it just helped to increase their fury.

"Where were you, Levy!?"

"We were worry sick about you, you know!"

"Why didn't you pick up your cellphone!?"

Levy sat down on the edge of her bed with her friends around her scolding her for going out last night alone and returning home until the early morning. Levy apologized to them and tried to look remorseful about her decision, but deep inside Levy was smiling widely. It had been the best night of her life and if she could, she would do it again.

At that moment, her phone buzzed and she looked at it to see who had send her a message. Her smile appeared on her face when she read it.

 _Hey :) It's Gajeel_

Well, maybe she could repeat what happened last night. She had a whole week ahead of her and she had a date with a sexy, pierced, red-eye, black haired man who couldn't wait even an hour to text her. It would be cruel to make him wait for a reply.

 _Hi ;)_

Oh, yes. Last night couldn't have gone any better and this vacations were just getting started.

* * *

 **That's it! I swear that this took me longer that expected but I managed to upload it in time to participate in the warm-up for Gajevy week. Sorry there is no kissing scene (I wanted to write that down but this was going to end up being a 10k fic if I did that; maybe when I find the time I'll come back here and add that scene)**

 **I really loved the brotp between Cana and Levy (Cana is just too fun to write!) And the dance scene between Levy and Gajeel got me so worked up! O/O I know it's silly but I'm Mexican and for us is like a huge turn on to feel that spark when you're dancing sexy latin music with a sexy boy.**

 **I feel like I slacked a little bit at the end of the story, but it was past 2 in the morning and I had work the next day. Sorry for that hehe.**

 **Thanks for reading and I'll appreciate any review you want to leave me!**

 **WTF (Where'sTheFood)**


	2. The Match (Day 1)

**Hello! This is my contribution to prompt 1: Matching of Gajevy week. Hope you like it! Leave a review and tell me what you think about it.**

 **Summary:** What if everyone could know who their soulmate was without much of a hassle? Cool, right? But how can you move past things that had already happened between the two of you? And, would your actions be influenced by that bit of information? - Gajevy modern AU where people don't have magic but there are still some mysteries in the world. (Got the raw idea from Soulmates-AU, a story from legends-of-nisty in tumblr [go check that out!])

 **Words count: 9k**

* * *

There is a story that parents used to tell their children before they went to bed, because each time the kids woke up they would always have a question on their lips: _Where did this match come from?_ As to avoid any confusion, mothers and fathers would tell the tale of ' _The Match_ '.

 _Every person has their match, as in, the person they are destined to love and is considered to be their soulmate. Humans went far and wide looking for said person and, more often than not, would guess wrong as to who they were supposed to spend their lives with. That's why Mavis, showing compassion towards humans, created 'The Match'. Each morning, every human around the globe finds lying beside his or her head a match: a short, thin piece of wood with a red tip that ignites a fire when rubbed against a rough surface. But this match is different from any ordinary match._

 _First, you only get one match per day, so any matches you have from previous days will vanish once morning arrives with your new match; and second, this match has a special power. For you to discover its power, you need to hold the match in your hand, say someone's name out loud, think of that person's face and snap your fingers on the red tip of the match. There'll be one of two possible outcomes: 1) the match will not light up and smoke will come out of the tip, or 2) the tip will light up with a golden flame. The later outcome will prove that said person is your 'meant to be', your soulmate, your match. But love isn't as simple as just finding the right person. Finding your match is just the beginning._

Levy McGarden knew this tale from start to end because her mother used to read it to her every night when she was little. It was a worldwide-known tale, for it explained why every morning a match would appear beside everyone's head. But after you grew up, people would just see the match and say it was child's play to think that a piece of wood could tell you who you were meant to be with. She really wanted to believe it to be true, but at the age of 25, Levy decided to just brush it off as one of the fairy tales that parents tell their children just to go to bed.

That's why she was shocked when she decided to prove if the match could work tonight. She was beyond astounded as she wasn't expecting _this_ result from her little experiment. She did it just to ease her mind, because one part of her brain was telling her that what she was doing was wrong, that she shouldn't be so naive as to extend a helping hand to someone as cruel as _him_. But another part of her was arguing that there was something more than meets the eye about _him_ , that _he_ just needed someone to be willing to help _him_.

She had whispered _his_ name and pictured _his_ face in her mind, _his_ ruby eyes, _his_ studded face and _his_ harsh facial features. And now, Levy stared perplexed at the golden flame that lighted up from 'The Match'. There was no doubt about the tale being true and no further question about destiny being a real pain-in-the-ass bitch that loved irony.

Pfft… irony… Levy's mind was good at wordplay and she couldn't stop herself from bursting out laughing. Because ironic couldn't even start to describe what this situation felt like. After all, 'The Match' golden flame could mean only one thing.

 _Gajeel Redfox_ was Levy's meant to be.

* * *

 **Two weeks ago…**

Levy was locking down the front door of the bookstore she owned. It had been a long day at work but Levy never complained for she loved to be surrounded by books and people that loved books. It had been a couple of months since opening the store and she couldn't be happier for the way people seemed to keep coming to buy the newest bestsellers.

Tonight wasn't any different from other nights, or so Levy had thought. She placed the keys in her satchel and started the trek back to her apartment. If she had just taken a second to look over her shoulder, she would have seen the big dark figure that started to follow her. Red eyes bored into her back with the owner of said eyes thinking on 'how could someone be so careless in a city as dangerous as this one?'.

Levy even started to hum a song that she liked but suddenly stopped when she heard the click-clack of steel boots that seemed to be following her. She hurried her pace but the noise picked up the same rhythm and before she could start running, she was hauled into a dark alley and shoved forcibly to the wall.

A tall man stood in front of her, staring at Levy with ruby eyes that shone in the darkness of the alley. When a cloud in the sky moved away revealing the full moon, the light allowed Levy to have a better look at her attacker. Tanned skin; pierced eyebrows, nose and chin; black long hair; and huge muscles.

"Who-who are y-you?" Levy stuttered in a quivering voice. She was leaning on the wall for support and she didn't notice she was clutching her satchel close to her chest, trying to stop her shaking hands. "I-I don't have any money, if that's what you're looking for. P-please, just let me go" She tried to sound a little firmer than before but her voice was still small with her plead.

"Gihi. Don't want yer money. At least, not fer me" the man said and crossed his arms over his chest. He grinned when Levy seemed to flinch at his movement. "I was sent to make sure ya got the message clear, Shorty."

"W-what do you mean? I-I don't know who you are. Please, just leave me-" she stopped mid-sentence when the man moved slightly to his left, showing her his tattoo on his right shoulder. She recognized the insignia. "You're from Phantom." Her satchel fell to the ground as she held both her hands over her mouth; her expression was of utter shock and terror as she recognized the gang's symbol.

"Looks like yer a smart one." He took one step closer to her and puffed out his chest to look more menacing, not that he needed to for Levy was already scared to death. "So, I'm here to make sure ya understand ya need to pay up for our _protection_. Yer long due and boss cannot have a Shrimp like ya owing him money" He smirked.

His words made Levy react, shaking her out of her initial shock. She stared at him in defiance and the man found himself surprised by her reaction. "You tell your _boss_ I'm not paying for anything. And no matter what he does he cannot scare me, you hear?" Her voice was strong with determination and the ruby eyes widened before narrowing dangerously.

"Wrong answer" he growled and before she could do anything, Levy was being pummeled down by the big man. A fist to her gut, another one to her head, an elbow to her ribs, a kick to her right knee and one last fist to her chin got Levy on the ground, trying to cover her head from further assaults on her body.

The man stared at her and smirked proudly of his work. "Told ya I was here to make sure ya got the message clear" He was about to kick her once again but a pair of powerful headlights lit up the dark alleyway, stopping him in his track.

" _Police! Hands over your head where I can see them!"_

"Shit!" He muttered and turned around to run away on the opposite direction from the police car. Just then did he realized that the alley in which he had hauled Levy into was closed off by a 10-meter-tall wall. He was cornered with no escape route. He looked around frantically for any door or window he could use to run away but was stopped in his search by a powerful arm on his back that shoved his face into the wall.

"You have the right to remain silence. Anything you say…" the police started to read the man's rights while handcuffing his hands behind his back. The Phantom's gangster tried to shove away the policeman but even with his enormous strength, his efforts proved to be useless and he was dragged into the police car.

The other police officer busied himself checking Levy's injuries and asking her how she felt. He called for an ambulance and stayed by her side, assuring her that she was safe now, that her attacker had been handcuffed and would be taken into custody. She only managed to groan a strained 'thank you' before passing out.

* * *

The next morning, Levy woke up at the hospital and a doctor filled her in on what had happened.

 _Gajeel Redfox_. That was the name of her assailant. He had brutally attacked Levy in the name of 'Phantom Lord', the gang that seemed to be terrorizing the city of Magnolia. Luckily, Levy had come out from the attack with minor injuries: one broken rib, a small concussion, bruises and scratches. She didn't required surgery but she did need to take it easy and let her body heal progressively.

The doctor informed Levy that Gajeel Redfox was put into custody and if she gave the police officers her statement to press charges against the man, he could pay a good amount of jail time. At that moment, she didn't wanted to know anything about him. She just wanted to forget everything that happened and move on with her life. That's why, when the policemen came to take her statement she asked them nicely to just leave her alone for the moment. She told them that she would go down to the police station once she was feeling better.

A couple of days later, she found herself outside the police station, taking deep breaths to calm herself down before stepping inside the building. She was escorted to a room adjacent to another one where Gajeel Redfox stood in line with several other men who looked somehow similar to him. The police officer explained to Levy that they couldn't see her due to the one-way mirror and that Levy just needed to identify the man who attacked her a couple nights back and she would be done with it.

She was about to point at man number 3, because there was no way she could forget the face of the man who attacked her on that alleyway, but then she stopped herself. She asked the officer if number 3 could take a step forward and the officer voiced out her request through the communicator. Gajeel Redfox took a step forward and looked straight to the mirror, only seeing his own reflection.

Levy felt her breath quickened and she excused herself from the room. She went to the bathroom and washed her face with cold water to try to calm herself down. There was no doubt she recognized the man, and there was no doubt either that she felt terrified by his presence. What she was surprised by was the fact that when she stared into Gajeel's face, she didn't see the anger, the cockiness and the roughness she saw the night of the attack.

No. This time what she saw in Gajeel's face was remorse and self-hatred. He was someone who seemed so lost, like a kid who knew he had done something wrong and found himself wondering what to do to make it right. What she saw in Gajeel's face was her own reflection from several years back staring right back at her,

No, no, no, NO! She couldn't be feeling compassion and empathy towards someone as horrible as Gajeel Redfox, right? He was mean! He had attacked her! He had beat her up and kicked her!

Then, why did Levy felt wrong to point at him and say 'Yes, that's the man who attacked me. Now put him behind bars for who knows how long'? Why did the mere thought of pressing charges against him made her feel like a hypocrite?

Maybe because Levy experienced the same as Gajeel Redfox had; she had been lost and someone showed compassion towards her. Wouldn't it be wrong to do anything less than that for Gajeel Redfox?

Levy stared at her reflexion in the bathroom's mirror and after a long sigh, she made up her mind. She needed to make a call before returning with the police officer.

* * *

"Redfox!" a policeman shouted and Gajeel groaned as he stood up from his bench in the shared cell. It seemed that it was time to transfer him to his own private cell because it was pretty obvious that the Shrimp had pressed charges against him and that she had easily recognized him in the police lineup.

He had fucked up really badly this time. There was no getting out of this. Phantom had been very explicit if anyone ever got caught by the police, they were on their own and they were never expected to return to the gang unless they wanted to get a bullet through their skull. Gajeel had no one else in his life, no family, no friends, the only thing he knew was his life as a gang member and now that had been flushed down the drain. He would now spend time in prison and then, when he'll finally get out, if he ever did, he would be tossed into a world with no job, no money, no roof over his head and with a criminal record that will hinder any attempt on getting back on his feet in any legitimate way.

The cell door slid open and a police officer hauled Gajeel out of it. What the man didn't expected was to be lead out to another room where he was handed his belongings. He stared at the police officer confusedly when the man started to take off the handcuffs from Gajeel's wrists.

"You had been released on bail. Take your stuff and get out. There's someone who's waiting for you outside the station" the officer explained and pushed the door open to guide the now-free man to the exterior of the building.

Gajeel didn't argue or even scowl at the officer, because he was still trying to figure out who had bail him out of this mess. When he stepped out of the building, he was met by an unknown black tall man with a scar over his left eye. Said man pushed himself off of his pickup truck and extended his hand towards Gajeel.

"You must be Gajeel, I guess? I'm Lily" Gajeel's confusion grew even more for he was sure he had never met this guy before. Still, he decided to shake hands with Lily as he grunted in affirmation of his inquiry.

"Yer the one who bail me out?" Gajeel questioned Lily as he studied the man further to know what the hell was going on here. Maybe Lily was from Phantom as well and they had decided to end Gajeel's miserable life sooner than he expected. But Gajeel knew that Jose Porla wouldn't spend a single penny on getting his sorry ass out of jail, so this Lily couldn't be from Phantom then.

Lily chuckled "You could say so, but not quite. Come on, get on the truck and I'll explain everything on the way." Lily walked around the front of the truck and got on to the driver's seat.

Gajeel doubted for a second, but then again, what did he have to lose? He had nowhere to go, no one to rely on and nothing better to do. So, Gajeel followed Lily's lead and climbed on to the copilot seat before asking "Where are we going?"

"To your new home" Lily turned the keys and the motor of the vehicle came to life with a roar. The two men disappeared into the end of the street, leaving a trail of dust and smoke on their way.

* * *

 **A week after Gajeel's release…**

"Thank you for your purchase! Have a nice day!" Levy's voice chirped happily at the couple that just exited her store. It didn't took her long to open up the store again at regular schedule. There were some clients who were wondering if everything was alright with the blue haired owner but she assured them that she was fine and that she had just taken some days off to relax.

It had been already two weeks after the night of the attack and she still felt a little bit jumpy at night when she closed the store, but she was trying to get pass that. She needed to continue with her life and not let some traumatic experience stop her dead on her tracks. She had come a long way to be where she was standing right now and she wasn't going to let that fall down to shambles.

The sound of bells indicating the entry of a new customer dragged Levy out of her inner musings. "Hello! How can I-" she glanced up from the counter to the newcomer just to freeze immediately.

She knew she might bump into him at some point, Magnolia wasn't that big of a city, but she didn't expect it to be _this_ soon.

Gajeel Redfox was awkwardly standing just past the doorframe of her bookstore - wait, _awkwardly?_

He totally looked nothing like his previous tough alpha male display. He had his shoulders sunken down, his hands were shoved into his pockets, his back was slightly bent down and his eyes were looking around the store avoiding eye contact with Levy. He seemed as if he was trying to make himself look the least threatening as possible, even trying to look smaller, which to Levy's opinion was hilarious because the man was still huge.

Still, his silent efforts to make sure Levy didn't felt threatened seemed to work, for she started to relax and shook herself out from the initial shock at the sight of the man. "Umm, hi" she said and a little smile graced her lips.

"Hi" he replied in a somehow rough but kind voice. He still lingered by the door.

"W-what can I do for you?" She held her hands behind the counter trying to control them from shaking.

He shifted uncomfortably "Umm, Lil' and I were around and he thought it would be nice to have lunch with ya… If-if that's okay for ya?" He locked his gaze with hers for a moment and then looked away quickly. He pointed with his thumb to the outside of the store "He's just parking the truck."

"S-sure! That would be nice." He looked up at her in a quick motion, his eyes widening in surprise by her answer.

"R-really? Good! Lil' mentioned that ya liked salads and that stuff, so there's a place-" Gajeel stopped his rambling when he noticed Levy flinched suddenly. He hadn't realized that he had taken a step forward and held his hands in front of him doing simple hand gestures. Many would have thought that Levy was overreacting over Gajeel's sudden movement, but he knew better. It had been just about two weeks since he attacked her so it was normal for her to fear any abrupt movements Gajeel did. Still, it pained Gajeel to see her flinching away from him.

"Shit… sorry" He apologized quickly and took a step back shoving his hands back into his pockets.

"It-it's o-okay" Levy tried to smile but it looked more like a grimace. "Just let me grab my purse, okay?" She turned around and walked out to the storage room just behind the counter.

Gajeel watched her disappear into the other room and sighed loudly. He was trying his best not to scare the girl but it was harder than he thought it would be. Maybe he should have convinced Lily that this was a bad idea. Clearly this was extremely painful for her and she didn't deserve to be this uncomfortable in her own store.

"Hey, what are you doing just standing at the door?" Lily placed his broad hand on Gajeel's shoulder and pushed him forward a bit, just so Lily could step into the store.

"She flinched when I took one step forward. Told ya this was a bad idea" Gajeel muttered dropping his gaze to the ground.

"Nonsense. She's stronger than she looks like" Lily argued and patted Gajeel's back. Just then, the girl in question returned from the storage room and walked around the counter.

"Hey, Lily!" Levy said in a cheerful voice and smiled.

"Hello, Levy. How are you feeling today?" Lily's tone warmed Levy's heart and she felt herself relax a bit.

"I'm better, thanks"

"Did Gajeel here tell you about our lunch plan?"

"Umm, yeah. You said you already have a place in mind, right?" The last part was directed to Gajeel who only nodded slowly in response.

"Good. Then, shall we go?" Lily walked up to where Levy was standing. Even when she was now in front of the counter, she didn't move towards the door. She just lingered there, keeping her distance with Gajeel who was 6 steps (10 of Levy's steps) away from her.

Lily closed the distance with her and placed a hand on her shoulder squeezing it ever so slightly in reassurance that he was there for her. "Don't worry. I'll keep him in line" Lily jerked his head towards Gajeel.

"Oi, I ain't yer dog, Lil'" Gajeel huffed.

"Never seen you like a dog, Gajeel. I always thought of you more like a cat" Lily looked over his shoulder and grinned at the exasperated expression in Gajeel's face.

Levy couldn't help but giggle at imagining Gajeel with pointy cat ears and a tail on his back. Lily gave Levy's shoulder another gentle squeeze and she smiled at the gesture. With Lily by her side, Levy walked up to the front door of her store and Gajeel pushed open the door for her to go out first.

For some reason, Levy didn't felt scared in the slightest walking down the street with Lily on her right and Gajeel on her left. It was somehow comfortable and soon Levy started to wonder if their lunch will be as pleasant as this.

* * *

"You should have seen her! There I was standing by the door eyeing a huge pile of books that suddenly started to mumble 'Help me, Lily'. That's when I noticed Levy had been buried alive under a pile of books in my living room and I just went down to my knees laughing as hard as I had ever laughed in my life, hahaha!" Lily let out a booming laughter which filled the Bistro where they were having lunch. He was clutching his stomach from laughing so hard at the funny memory of when Levy used to live with him and his wife.

"It wasn't that funny Lily, okay?" Levy tried to sound angry but she just felt embarrassed that Lily was telling Gajeel about that.

"How did ya even end up like that?" Gajeel asked after he recovered his breath from laughing too.

"Oh! Please let me tell him. That's the best part!" Lily exclaimed and tried to contain his laughter to retell that part of the story.

"Don't you dare Lily!" Levy threatened but Lily just waved a hand at her, dismissing her warning.

"She wanted a book at the top shelf and since she couldn't reach it, little miss here decided to climb up the bookcase, which caused the entire bookcase full of books to fall all over her." Lily laughed loudly again and was joined by Gajeel. Levy puffed her cheeks in annoyance but soon started to giggle as well.

It had been a nice lunch so far. Levy found herself more and more comfortable in Gajeel's company, much thanks to Lily's casual chatter which constantly eased the mood. She looked down at her watch and noticed how late it was already.

"Oh my! I need to go back to the store" She opened her purse but Lily stopped her before she could take out some cash to pay for her lunch.

"My treat. We invited you, remember?" Lily smiled warmly at Levy.

"You don't have to..."

"Please, I insist" Levy nodded at his words and put away her purse. Lily placed the cash on the table and the three of them stood up and walked out of the Bistro.

Gajeel and Lily walked Levy back to her bookstore and stopped just in front of the entrance door. "Well, we need to get going. We still need to find this brute a job so he can stop living for free at my house" Lily told Levy and he punched Gajeel in the arm good-naturedly.

"Tch, as if I enjoy that more than you do." Gajeel grunted and glared at Lily.

"Still not luck with the job hunting?" Levy asked Gajeel.

He huffed before answering "There aren't a lot of people willing to hire an ex-gang member." He looked away and scowled at remembering how he had been treated during his last 10 job interviews.

 _Ex-gang member_. That's right. Lily had explained Levy during lunch that in the past week they had work hard and finally managed to cut out all of Gajeel's ties with 'Phantom Lord' gang. Lily even paid for Gajeel's tattoo to be removed from his shoulder. Ever since Gajeel got out of the police station, he had been staying at Lily's house and he had been helping Gajeel get a new clean start. But, as he said, there were not a lot of people willing to help someone who had been involved in a dangerous gang such as Phantom.

Levy hummed softly while thinking. Her eyebrows furrowed when an idea struck her mind. She looked up at him and asked nicely "How about you work here?" She signaled at her store and both men stared at her with wide eyes at her proposition.

"What?" Gajeel asked dumbfounded.

"Well, I mean. I really need an assistant and, as much as I hate to admit it, I have lots of trouble placing back the top-shelves books. Your help can come in handy, that's if you want the job" Levy shrugged her shoulders as if what she was offering wasn't a big deal.

"Ya sure about it? I-I mean, ya want me to work here, at yer bookstore? Fer real?" Gajeel couldn't believe what Levy was offering him.

According to what Lily had told him, she had been the one who had contacted Lily to ask him to help Gajeel start all over again; she had been the one who had pay to bail him out of jail; and right now she was offering him a job at her store. She did all that even after he had been the son of a bitch who had attacked her. She was figuratively and literally opening the door to her store for him; she was letting him into her safe haven; _him_ , the monster who had beat her up barely two weeks ago.

"Sure!" Levy smiled at him still holding the door open. "I mean, only if you want the job..."

"Yeah…" Gajeel replied quickly and nodded his head enthusiastically. "When can I start boss?" He grinned playfully at Levy and extended his hand towards her.

She giggled and shook hands with the man. "You can start right away if you have nothing better to do"

"Roger that" Gajeel held the front door open for Levy to go inside the store first and then Lily followed her, stopping for a moment in front of Gajeel.

"Told you she's stronger than she looks like" Lily said in a low voice just for Gajeel to listen. He just grinned at him in response and nodded for Lily to get inside.

'Freaking understatement of the year' Gajeel thought before closing the door behind him once he got inside the store.

* * *

 **That night at closing time…**

Levy was putting away some paperwork at the front desk of the store. She looked up from her work and saw Gajeel stacking some books back to the shelves where they belonged. Her mind started to drift a bit and soon she started to recall everything that had transpired in the last couple of weeks.

Ever since that day at the police station when she called Lily, a part of her mind kept telling her that she was crazy for even thinking on helping out Gajeel. And today, after offering Gajeel a job at her bookstore, that part of her mind started to scream at her that she definitely had gone insane. How could she be such an idiot to even believe that she could be safe around a monster like him?

Regardless, Gajeel proved to be trustworthy. He helped around the store and made Levy's work incredibly easier. Lily stayed at the store for a couple of hours just to make sure that Levy was okay having Gajeel around and then left so he could go and pick up his wife at her work. Surprisingly, even for Levy, she did felt comfortable having Gajeel around and they even got to know a little bit more about each other. She learned that he likes to play the guitar and that he enjoys writing the lyrics to his songs. The more she talked with Gajeel that afternoon the more Levy realized that he wasn't the monster she thought he was, he was just someone who had suffered for so long and never had anyone to help him out.

After the last customer left the store, Gajeel approached Levy at the front desk and dragged her out from her reminiscence when he spoke. "Hey, can I talk to ya for a minute?"

"Sure, what's up? Lily called and said he will be here in 15. How did you like your first day?"

"It was fine. Though I'm sure one brat was taking out the books from their shelves just to mess with me." Gajeel huffed and leaned his forearms on the counter.

"Yeah, Asuka likes to do that. It means that she likes you, haha"

"Fucking brat" Gajeel muttered but couldn't hold down the small smile that appeared on his face. He cleared his throat before continuing "Anyways, uhm…" He scratched the back of his head sheepishly "Just wanted to say… thanks… ya know, f-for everything."

"Oh" Levy was surprised by his words and smiled kindly at him "No need to. As I said, I really was in need for some assistance with the store so-"

"What I mean…" Gajeel interrupted Levy and sighed. "Thanks, for this…" he signaled around to the store "And for everything else… Lily told me what ya did fer me and it really means a lot"

Levy's expression softened and she smiled again. "You're welcome, Gajeel"

"Can I ask ya why? Why ya did all that fer me?"

Levy hummed before answering "Well, to be honest, when I saw you at the police lineup, you kind of reminded me of my old self."

Gajeel raised an eyebrow in confusion urging Levy to explain further. "You see… About ten years ago I was homeless and had no one who cared about me. In order to survive I became a thief and started to steal jewelry and money from people's homes." She looked down in shame. "But one night I broke into Lily's house and he caught me before I could escape. Instead of turning me in to the police, he offered me a chance to start all over again. He feed me, put a roof over my head and sent me to school." Levy smiled at the memory. "He forgave me and looked past what I had done to him. He was my saving grace and I promised to myself if I ever got the chance to do something like that I would."

She beamed at him before continuing "So, there's no need to thank me. If you think about it, all of this is thanks to Lily"

Gajeel remained frozen on the spot, staring intently at Levy. He was taken aback by her story and now he felt he understood her a little bit more. Still, he couldn't believe she was brushing off what she was doing as something unimportant. It was huge! At least for him. He could relate to how she felt ten years ago, because right now Levy McGarden was _his_ saving grace.

There were so many things he wanted to say to her. He wanted to tell her how amazing she was, how sorry he felt for what he had done to her, and how grateful he was for what she was doing for him. But above all of that, he wanted to tell her that he had vowed to himself to repay her for her kindness in any and every way possible.

Words seemed to escape Gajeel as he noticed he hadn't say anything after Levy finished her story. He felt his throat tightened as he tried to say anything. He opened his mouth and closed it almost immediately. He was never a man of words, so how could he express his gratitude towards her? He did the only thing he believed to be appropriate.

He shook his head as if saying 'No, this is not just thanks to Lily'. He took a step back from the counter, eyes fixed on her and then he bowed.

Gajeel Redfox bowed down from the waist in gratitude to Levy McGarden. His long black hair fell to either side of his head, shadowing his face. "Thank you" he said in the most sincere way possible. 'I promise you I won't waste this opportunity you're giving me' he thought.

Levy held her breath for a moment. She felt the sincerity in Gajeel's words and her heart warmed at his gesture of gratefulness. "Gajeel…" she said softly and he straightened his back to look at her.

Levy jumped slightly when she heard Lily honking the horn of his truck indicating that he just arrived. "We should go. Don't want to leave Lily waiting for us, right?" Levy grabbed her purse and walked around the counter. Gajeel nodded in agreement and walked with her to the front door.

He stood by her side while she locked down the store and took the opportunity to ask her another question. "Hey, have ya ever heard about the tale of 'The Match'?"

Levy put away the keys into her purse and looked up at him "Yeah. What about it?"

"What do ya think about it? Think it's real?" He tried to sound nonchalant but there was a hint of longing in his voice.

"Well, I like the story but it's been awhile since I tried to prove if it's real or not… Why do you ask?" They closed the distance to Lily's truck and Gajeel opened the passenger's door for her.

"N-no reason, just curious…" he looked away from her and Levy swore she saw a light blush on his cheeks. 'So she doesn't know about it…' Gajeel thought.

"O-okay…" she climbed into the truck and their conversation was dropped.

* * *

 **Later that night (A/N where this story began)…**

Levy found herself sitting on her bed cross-legged holding 'The Match' in her hand.

"This is ridiculous" she sighed dejectedly. It had been a long time since she had tried to use 'The Match' and she felt silly to be doing this right now. But something inside her kept telling her to use it, to see for herself the result of this little experiment.

There was again that part of her mind telling her that offering her help to Gajeel would only bring her pain and suffering, but another part kept saying that what she was doing was the right thing to do. When she was little, whenever she felt conflicted about someone, she did the little experiment of 'The Match' just to make herself stop thinking about things too much.

Besides, Levy was curious about why had Gajeel ask her about what she thought about 'The Match'. Was he just trying to start a casual conversation? Or was there some other reason behind his question?

Pushing her doubts aside, Levy held up 'The Match' in her hand. "Gajeel Redfox" she whispered and pictured his face in her mind. Then, she snapped her fingers over the tip of 'The Match' and waited for the outcome.

When it lit up, Levy stared at it in shock. Could this be true? The golden flame was bright as the sun and Levy's eyes started to water from its intensity but she couldn't look away from it. Never in her life had she seen something as beautiful as this fire.

When the light dimmed out as the flame died out, something clicked in Levy's mind "Oh, Mavis!" Her eyes widened as she realized what the golden flame meant.

Gajeel Redfox, the man who had attacked her, the man who she had bail out of jail, the man who was now working for her at her bookstore, was her soulmate, her meant to be, her match.

What was she supposed to do with this new information?! This was incredibly unexpected! Not that she didn't believe it might be true, just that it was somehow ironic on how she had crossed paths with the (supposedly) love of her life.

"Wait… Is that why he asked me about 'The Match'? Does he know too?" She wondered and her cheeks started to heat up.

The more she thought about it, the more she realized that she felt comfortable with Gajeel. It was easy to talk to him. She never imagined her telling someone she barely knew about her troubled past but that same afternoon she had told Gajeel about that as if it wasn't that big of a deal. The more time she spent with Gajeel that day, the more she became aware of the fact that she enjoyed his company…

But… but it's just crazy! Right?! They had been… uhm… friends? Acquaintances? Employer and employee? (What the hell was their relationship?!) for less than a day and now 'The Match' was telling her that he was her soulmate?

"Oh, my… Mavis must be playing tricks on me… How come…? And he…? And I…? ARGH!" Levy's mind was racing with so many questions and her heart started to beat faster in her chest.

"Okay, okay… Calm down Levy, calm down" She took deep breaths and she remembered one part of the story her mother used to tell her.

 _Love isn't as simple as just finding the right person. Finding your match is just the beginning._

She repeated that phrase over and over again in her head and sighed loudly.

"I need to talk to him about this tomorrow" Then she stood up to turn off the light in her room.

* * *

 **The next day at closing time…**

It had been one of the busiest days in the bookstore. Neither Gajeel nor Levy had even five minutes to rest among the sea of customers that flooded the store all day long.

Finally, Levy waved goodbye to the last customer and put up the sign 'Closed' at the front door before heading back to the front desk. "Well, that was the last client" she told Gajeel who was stacking some boxes over the desk.

"Shit. Today was crazy… Did ya used to put up with this by yerself?"

"Hehe, yeah. Some days are crazier than others, but it's way easier with you helping around, so thanks!"

"Tch, no need to, Shortstuff. Remember this is my job." Gajeel grinned when her eyes flashed annoyance at the nickname. His buffed arms lifted the boxes with ease and then he looked down at her "Just let me put these in the back room. Lil' said he should be here in about 20. Wanna join us for dinner?"

"Sure! Where to?" She chirped happily.

"Lil's house. I'm cooking" With that he started to walk away from her towards the back room of the store.

"What? You cook? Really?" She raised her voice so he could still hear her.

"Of course! I'm a man full of surprises, Shrimp" He answered looking at her over his shoulder before disappearing into the other room.

"Sure you are…" she said under her breath and shook her head good-naturedly. Levy walked around the counter and started to put away some of the bills and paperwork into the drawers of the desk.

Her mind drifted off to the previous night, when she saw the golden flame from 'The Match'. She hadn't spoken to Gajeel about her finding and she didn't have any idea on how to approach the subject. Her mind started to play different scenarios on how she could mention it.

 _Hey, Gajeel. So, about 'The Match'... It's just a bunch of lies, am I right? A piece of wood telling you who you are meant to be with… Pfft! Who was the crazy love freak who thought of that, right?_

Levy's eye twitched at thinking on how ridiculous she would look like pretending to be tsundere.

 _Hey, Gajeel… So, you know 'The Match', eh? You and I? (*wiggling of eyebrows*) Wanna go someplace else, handsome?_

Levy blushed furiously at that scenario.

 _Oh, Gajeel! I used 'The Match'! You and I will be together forever and ever and we'll live happily ever after!_

Levy cringed by the mere thought of acting like a lovesick girl with delusional ideas.

Okay, maybe it was best to not bring the subject up with him. At least, not tonight… or ever again… It's too silly, right? And he probably would just mock her for even bringing that up, right? Then, why did he ask about it in the first place…?

'Argh! Why can't my mind shut up for a minute?!' Levy thought exasperatedly and rested her forehead on the table.

The sound of the front door opening pulled her out of her inner turmoil but she didn't raise her head from the desk. "Sorry, we're closed right now. Please, come back tomorrow." The sound of approaching footsteps brought confusion to Levy's mind 'Uh? Maybe he/she didn't hear me…' she thought.

Levy raised her head from the table and put on her nicest smile "Sorry, we're closed right-"

"I heard you the first time." A tall white man stood there inside the store with his arms crossed over his chest. Levy eyed his peculiar hair that was tied up in a Japanese-style top knot; half of it dyed black and the other half white.

"Sir, we-" Levy stared at him in confusion when she was interrupted once again by the newcomer.

"I ain't here to purchase anything from your petty store, young lady." He walked all the way to the counter and rested his forearms on it. When Levy took a step backwards instinctively, he smirked. "I'm here to deliver something to you." He said slowly, making sure she could understand his words as a threatening remark.

Levy stared at him in fear, trying to figure out what was happening. The man then tugged down his jacket's collar and she saw the tattoo that had been hidden by the fabric.

Phantom.

Levy gasped when she recognized the insignia which made the man grin wider. "The name is Totomaru and my boss sent me to tell you something important." He leaned forward on the counter and Levy took another step backwards. "You have to pay. One way or another. You. Will. Pay." He emphasized his lasts words with a serious and deep voice that got Levy shaking.

Her heart thumped in her ears and her lungs felt as if they were on fire from the lack of oxygen for Levy was holding her breath unconsciously. She breathed in heavily, trying to calm her senses and set her expression strongly confronting Totomaru's threat. "Please, leave my store at once before I call the police." She surprised herself when she didn't stuttered.

"Oh? You'll call the police, eh?" Totomaru mocked her and just then did Levy realize that her satchel was nowhere near her. It was a couple meters away to her right on one of the tables, with her cellphone inside one of its pockets.

If she made a run for it, Levy might get a chance to grab her satchel before Totomaru got the opportunity to attack her. But that would require her to move away from the counter, which right now was the only barrier between the man and Levy.

Totomaru saw her eyeing her satchel and grinned 'Oh, please. Be stupid enough to try' he thought and licked his lips subconsciously.

After a few seconds of silence, which seemed like an eternity for Levy, she made up her mind. In a quick motion she sprinted towards her satchel, moving away from behind the counter. Just when she was about to reach the table, she felt a big hand gripped her left upper arm quite roughly.

Totomaru tightened his grip on her upper arm halting her movement and then he tossed her to the nearest wall. Levy cried out in pain once her back collided with a bookcase and her body slid down to the floor. Books fell to either side of her and she grabbed her left arm shutting her eyes tightly when she felt her arm throbbed in pain.

Totomaru walked calmly towards her and Levy looked up at him when he chuckled "Told ya you were going to pay, little miss." He pulled out from his jacket a pocket knife and Levy stared wide eyed at the sharp end of the weapon.

'He's going to kill me' Levy couldn't think about anything else. She became more terrified with each step Totomaru took towards her. 'I'm going to die here.'

She closed her eyes when Totomaru was just two steps away from her. There was no way out, she was going to die by the hands of this man.

The, her eyes snapped open when she heard a yowl of pain followed by a loud crash. Standing in front of her, Gajeel was facing Totomaru who was now on his back over what used to be a table. Gajeel opened his hand and Totomaru's pocket knife fell to the ground in front of Levy's feet. She heard him growling menacingly at the intruder when he started to pick himself up.

"Redfox" Totomaru spat out angrily.

"What the hell are ya doing here, Totomaru?!" Gajeel roared.

He was beyond furious right now. When he was in the back room, he heard Levy's cry of pain and rushed back immediately to the front of the store to see what had happened. He never expected to see Totomaru standing there, walking towards Levy with a pocket knife in his hand while Levy was on the floor with her back pressed against a bookcase. Gajeel had never moved so fast in his life, because in a blink of an eye he had disarmed Totomaru, punched him in the gut and tossed him to the other side of the room, causing a table to split in two from the force of the impact.

"Boss sent me to do your job since you failed so miserably last time" he said casually before his expression turned serious. "Now, move aside from the girl, Redfox." Totomaru walked towards them eyeing Gajeel carefully.

"Just try to harm her, ya dickshit" Gajeel's words dripped venom.

"Tsk. You and I know that yer all bark and no-" Totomaru's words were cut short when Gajeel's fist collided with his face. Another punch to his gut and one last blow to his jaw sent Totomaru to the floor once again.

"How do ya like my bite, jerk?"

Totomaru was holding his hand to his face to stop the blood that was coming out from his now-broken nose when Gajeel grabbed him by the front of his jacket and yanked him off the floor. Totomaru's feet dangled above the ground and Gajeel inched his face closer to Totomaru's. If glares could kill, Totomaru would have died at least a thousand times for the way Gajeel's eyes narrowed at him.

"Tell Porla to NEVER come back here, ya hear? I'll beat the crap out of anyone that dares to come near her…" His voice was low and frightening. "Next time I won't be as forgiving as today. Do ya understand?" Gajeel snarled and Totomaru shivered under his hold. He nodded with wide eyes full of fear.

Gajeel smirked. "Good" He released his hold on Totomaru's jacket and the man staggered once his feet touched the floor. "Now get the hell out of here!" Gajeel growled and Totomaru sprinted out of the store without looking back.

Gajeel went to the front door and locked it down in case anyone else from Phantom tried to enter the store. His shoulders relaxed when he heard the click of the door's lock and he sighed in relief. Then, Gajeel turned around to see Levy still sitting on the floor with her back leaned on a bookcase, staring intently at him.

His expression softened as he walked up to her and knelt down in front of Levy before he spoke "Are ya alright, Shrimp?" His voice was soft and kind, and his eyes showed concern for her.

She nodded "Yeah, I-I think so…" She looked down to her left arm which she was still holding with her right hand.

"Let me see" Gajeel moved away her hand and gently touched her left upper arm, making Levy hiss in pain. Gajeel sighed when he finished examining her arm "Looks like it's not broken. It'll only bruise. We need to put ice on it, though"

Gajeel took out his cellphone and dialed Lily's number. After the second ring, Gajeel heard Lily's voice " _Hello?_ "

"Hey Lil', how far are ya?"

" _I'll be there in 10, Gajeel_ "

"Can you bring some ice with ya?"

" _Ice? What did you do this time?_ "

"Didn't do anything!" He huffed and Levy giggled at his exasperated expression. "Just get the ice, will ya? I'll explain everything later."

" _Alright. See you in a bit_ " Lily ended the call and Gajeel put away his phone.

"He'll be here soon." He smiled at her and offered his hand to help her stand up. Once Levy was on her feet, Gajeel turned around and started to walk away. "Let me grab yer bag so wh-" His sentence was cut short and he froze on the spot when he felt something collided with his back and a slender arm wrapped around his waist. He looked over his shoulder and saw the top of Levy's head while she had her face flushed against his back.

"Thank you, Gajeel. I-I mean it… Thanks" She mumbled against his shirt and he felt her tremble as if she was fighting away the tears.

He turned around and wrapped his arms around her carefully, one hand on her head and the other in the small of her back, bringing her closer to him. She buried her face deeper into his chest and tightened her hold around his waist. Then, Gajeel leaned down and mumble into her hair "I'll protect ya, Levy. I promise ya yer safe with me"

"I know" She sniffed and looked up to him. Tears pricked at the edge of her eyes and she gave him a watery smile. "Thank you"

He smiled at her and let himself get lost in the deep hazel pools that were Levy's eyes. His chest warmed at her smile and his mind decided that having her in his arms was the best feeling of the world. He wanted to keep her there in his embrace for all eternity, protecting her and cherishing her as if she was the most valuable person in the world, because in Gajeel's eyes, she was.

When he smiled at her, Levy's heart skipped a beat and found it incredibly hard to look away from his ruby eyes. They were full of affection for her and determination to keep his word. She had never felt safer in her entire life like she felt right now within Gajeel's arms. Her mind suddenly recalled the conversation she still had to have with Gajeel and she smiled brighter to him, her smile reaching her eyes.

"I used 'The Match' last night…" she loosened her hold on him when she felt his body tensed up at her words.

He gently pushed her away at arm's length with his hands on her small shoulders. He was looking at her intently with surprise in his eyes, trying to see what she meant with that phrase. Why did she bring that up now? C-could it be that…? She…? And him…? Gajeel didn't knew if there was a slight chance that his 'Match' could be one-sided and sure he felt that he didn't deserve her at all…

Gajeel had found out about it the second night he spent at Lily's. His new friend had just told him that night about Levy bailing him out of jail and contacting Lily to ask for his help. Gajeel wondered about her reasons to do that and just for the fun of it he used 'The Match'. When he saw the flame he thought that maybe she had done it because she knew he was her soulmate and wanted to help him out so they could have all the mushy-lovey-dovey fairy tale ending (that's what all the girls wanted, right?). Well, Gajeel wasn't one to question her reasons and he still was grateful for what she had done for him so he promised to do his best to right his life and make up to her for what he had done.

Nonetheless, he found out the previous night that Levy's reasons were far from what he expected. She had no idea about 'The Match' and she had helped him out of the goodness in her heart. Gajeel thought that life or destiny or Mavis (whoever the hell liked to play with people's lives) was screwing with him because there was no way that he could have someone as good as Levy as his soulmate. At least he believed that someone had fucked up because Levy sure didn't deserve a bastard like him as her lifelong partner. So, Gajeel's mind kept telling him that there was the slim chance that she was his soulmate but he wasn't hers (could that even happen?).

He was still staring at her, focusing on breathing because apparently his chest was heaving as if he was about to have a panic attack.

"And?" he mustered to say and took a deep breath expecting the worst.

Levy smiled at him and the corner of her eyes crinkled at the motion. "Now I know it's real." She said and Gajeel let go of the breath he was holding in.

His heart started to beat so fast that he believed it was going to burst out of his chest any minute now. He didn't even try to fight away or hide the blush that spread on his cheeks and he welcomed the little flip flops his stomach did when her words sank in his mind. 'The Match' wasn't one-sided. She was his soulmate and he was hers.

By his reaction, Levy knew immediately that her suspicions were true. Gajeel already knew that they were soulmates and that warmed her heart like nothing had ever before.

Gajeel's mind started to swirl with conflicted thoughts. 'You're still the monster who attacked her, remember? A piece of wood and a flame don't change that.'

His face shifted in anguish and shock and he retrieved his hands from her shoulders as if they were burning hot. He ran one hand through his thick black hair trying to figure out what to do next. They were soulmates and that only made Gajeel's guilt grow tenfold. It meant that he attacked the only person in this world that was supposed to love him and spend the rest of her life with him. It didn't matter what 'The Match' said, she didn't have to spend her life with him if she didn't wanted to. And Gajeel was sure as hell that she would not want a bastard like him as her life companion. That would only mean that Gajeel would spend his whole life regretting what he had done to the only woman that could have loved his sorry ass.

Levy saw Gajeel's conflicted gaze and understood what he might be thinking about. His expression showed guilt and regret and he scowled once or twice while diverting his gaze to the floor. She understood that their situation was very odd indeed. It's not common to meet the love of your life like they met. And she still was getting used to Gajeel but she knew that she did have deep feelings for the big man and that he did return the feelings towards her.

But how could they get pass this? How could they leave behind the guilt, the suffering, the fear and the remorse? How could they get to their 'happily ever after'? That's when Levy remembered one part of the story that she thought that it could ease her heart and mind as well as Gajeel's.

She reached out and touched his hand gently, dragging his gaze back to her. "Hey… you know what my mom used to say to me?" She gave him a little smile. "She said 'Love isn't as simple as just finding the right person.' "

Gajeel relaxed and his expression showed that his inner turmoil was settling down. "Yeah?" The corner of his mouth quirked upwards "Pops said too something pansy like 'Finding your match is just the beginning.' " He smiled and encased her hands between both of his.

Yeah, they had found each other and together they would figure out how to move past what happened between them. There was no denying that they felt a strong connection with each other, but they still had a long way to reach their fairy tale ending. Nevertheless, they were willing to try to work it out. They were soulmates; they had been matched by destiny. And they would do their damn best to keep moving forward to get to the point where Gajeel would feel like he deserved Levy's love and Levy would feel like she had help Gajeel to right his life.

* * *

 **So that was a handful! I sware my mind does not understand what a one-shot means and it just keeps pouring out ideas that I need to write down. Sadly, that's the reason I won't be able to finish all the prompts on time. I will upload them eventually but not exactly on the desgined date. Quite a few are very good and I'm getting engrossed in the story but I'm still trying to keep it simple to finish all of them.**

 **Tell me what you think about it! Leave a review, follow or favorite! Spread the Gajevy week love!**

 **You can find me on tumblr as whereisthefood123**

 **Thank you for reading! And Happy Valentine's Day! *Hugs and kisses***

 **WTF(Where'sTheFood)**


	3. I missed ya (Day 2)

**Hello everyone! Welcome back! This prompt is for day 2 of Gajevy week: Longing. Hope you like it! Leave a review and share this story :D**

 **Summary:** Levy is out on a mission and Gajeel is grumpy about that. Lily and Juvia take advantage of the situation to tease Gajeel. Gajevy; Lily-Gajeel-Juvia brotp.

 **Fluffy and little bit of angst! Because my mind cannot be at ease if there is no angst in my stories.**

 **Canon-verse; I think it would be after GMG and before Tartarous because the guildhall is already back to normal and it's after Tenrou Island.**

 **Words count: 4.7k**

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"Hey Metal Head! Fight-" Natsu's challenge was cut short when an iron club hit him square in the face, sending the fire dragon slayer to the other side of the guild hall.

"Fuck off, Salamander." Gajeel said dismissively returning his arm back to normal before tossing another set of iron bolts and screws into his mouth. He munched on his snack loudly, sending off an aura that scream 'you better stay the fuck away from me' to everyone around him. Not that Natsu could read the mood since this was the third time he had tried to start a fight with Gajeel just to be tossed to the other side of the room without much of an effort from the iron dragon slayer.

"Bring it on, Metal Breath!" Natsu was about to launch himself again towards Gajeel's table but Lucy grabbed him by his scarf stopping his movement.

"Give it a rest, Natsu. Gajeel is obviously not in the mood" the stellar mage scolded him and turned around to see the iron dragon slayer staring absentmindedly at the closest wall.

"Yeah, stop being a pain in the ass, you moron." Gray commented from a nearby table.

"What do ya call me, Ice princess?!" Natsu yelled at Gray.

"Who are you calling a princess, you Fire Dick?!"

"Wanna fight me?!"

"Bring it on, jerk!"

And that's how Natsu gave up on his attempts to initiate a fight with Gajeel and instead focused on his fight with Gray that suddenly evolved into a full-blown battle, getting almost all the members of the guild involved. Lucy sighed and took a seat besides Juvia who was fawning over her dear Gray-sama when he started to take off his shirt.

"Hey, Juvia…" Lucy's voice got the water mage back to reality as she noticed for the first time that the blonde was sitting next to her.

"Hi Lucy, what can Juvia do for you?"

"Do you know why Gajeel is even grumpier today than usual?" She pointed at said man who just snarled at a random guild member that tried to sit down at his table, succeeding in scaring that person off.

"Juvia hadn't notice but now that Lucy mentions it, Gajeel-kun does seem edgier today." He suddenly threw an iron cup to Elfman yelling at him to 'Shut the fuck off with yer stupid manliness!'

"Juvia better go and talk with Gajeel-kun to see what's being bothering him." The water mage excused herself from the table and made her way to where Gajeel was sitting. He growled at her angrily but since Juvia was used to the dragon slayer's curtness she ignored him and sat down across the table from him.

"What da ya want woman?" He scowled and kept his attention on his iron snacks.

"Juvia wanted to say hi to Gajeel-kun." She smiled sweetly at him but he didn't even look at her.

"Tch. Ya just did. Now, go..." He munched loudly on another piece of iron.

"You can be a bit more polite to Juvia, Gajeel." Pantherlily said when he landed on the table giving a disapproving glance at the iron mage who just growled in annoyance that his table was getting more crowded by the minute. "I'm sorry Juvia. This brute is a little more edgy these days."

"Hi, Lily. No need to apologize, Juvia is used to Gajeel-kun being rude. Actually, Juvia wanted to know if there is something bothering Gajeel-kun to be like this?"

"Nothin' wrong" Gajeel grumbled.

"Levy's on a mission." Lily supplied and earned a death glare from his partner.

"Oh, is that so? How long has Levy being away for?"

"Ain't nothin' to do with that! I said nothin' wrong!" Gajeel raised his voice but he kept being ignored by his two friends.

"She has being gone for two weeks now. She went with Lissanna and they were supposed to return two days ago but there hasn't been any news about them yet." Lily explained. Mirajane had informed him about the whereabouts of the script mage when Gajeel and Lily came back to the guild from their mission. Turns out, Lisanna asked Levy for her help on a simple mission in Hargeon and she kept informing Mirajane about their progress. The last call had been 3 days ago stating that they were to return the next day, which obviously they hadn't yet.

"Oh! Is Gajeel-kun worried about Levy?" Juvia tilted her head to the side, staring intently at the iron mage.

"Why would I worry for the Shrimp?" He said nonchalantly and looked at Juvia as if she had gone insane.

"No, he just misses her." Lily grinned knowingly when Gajeel choked on his beer after he tried to take a sip from it.

"Aw, that's cute Gajeel-kun." Juvia cooed.

"Ain't nothin' like that! The hell are ya talking cat!" Gajeel looked first at Juvia then at Lily with fury in his eyes and a faint blush on his cheeks.

"Come on, Gajeel. You know we know you the best out of everyone. There's no need to lie to us."

"Juvia agrees with Lily. There's no need for Gajeel-kun to hide his feelings for Levy from us."

"F-fe-feelings…?" He cringed and his left eye twitched. "Are ya crazy woman?! I told ya it's nothin' like that! Stop giving her ideas, Lil'!" Juvia shared a knowing glance with Lily and then she covered her mouth trying to muffle her giggles.

"Tch!" Gajeel scoffed and looked away from them. "She just promised to help me with somethin'. That's all." He tossed another set of iron bolts into his mouth.

"Help with what?" Juvia was curious now since it was odd for Gajeel to accept anyone's help with anything. Like, at all.

"She was gonna put some spell on my house so my iron won't rust." Gajeel looked back at her with indifference.

Just before Gajeel and Lily left for their previous mission, Levy had explained to them that she had learned a written spell that could guard some place from environmental effects such as humidity and rain. She had been so excited about it that she asked Gajeel if she could put it to the test on his home to protect the iron he hoarded there. She even offered to add a soundproof spell on his house so Lily wouldn't suffer during the thunderstorms. Gajeel only shrugged and mumbled a 'whatever' which earned him a joyful squeal from the script mage.

Even when he didn't want to admit it, Gajeel was pretty excited by her proposition. Not just because his iron would be protected, which was awesome because rusty iron tasted awful, but because she would be going to his house and maybe, if she liked it there, she would want to hang out more with Lily and him at his place. That's why, before reporting back to the guild once they came back from their mission, Gajeel decided to go first to his home and make it decent for Levy's visit.

He felt disappointed when Mira told them they had just missed Levy, but he would never admit that aloud. Still, he kept cleaning up his house each day in case Levy was to return early from her mission, which didn't happen. Now he just felt stupid for doing such a thing and he even had to put up with Lily mocking him on a daily basis for the last days.

"That sounds wonderful!" Juvia clapped her hands happily.

"Yeah, and she even offer to add something to keep the noises from thunderstorms out of the house." Lily mentioned and swallowed thickly in relief that he would not have to hide away in fear in his own home anymore.

"It's gonna rain soon and my iron is gonna rust without her stupid spell."

"Well, if Gajeel-kun really needs that spell, why doesn't he ask Freed for his help? Juvia is sure that Freed might be able to help somehow." Juvia pointed with her finger to the green haired rune mage that was sitting by the bar talking with Bickslow.

"Tch, come one! As if he could do as good as a job as the Shrimp." That statement only earned him a wider grin from Lily and another giggle from Juvia, much to his annoyance.

"Call it what you want, but you're waiting for her to come back." Lily said matter-of-factly and added under his breath "... cuz you miss her." Gajeel glared angrily at his cat as if he was going to murder the son of a bitch for even saying something like that.

"It's okay, Gajeel-kun. Juvia thinks it's normal for you to miss Levy since the two of you had been spending a lot of time together."

""S-spending t-time?! What?! No, we haven't!"

"Well, every time Levy is reading at the guild, Gajeel-kun is sitting right next to her."

"That ain't true!" It was, but Gajeel didn't need Juvia to remind him that every time the Shrimp opened a book, he moved his sorry ass to sit down across her table to watch her read. He couldn't help it! It was too damn cute to see her mumbling incoherently and scrunching her face with a wide variety of emotions when something exciting or sad or happy happened in the story. It had become Gajeel's secret hobby to watch her read and something inside him was telling him that Levy knew about it too because she never complained about him staring at her while she read a dozen of books.

"And last time, you went grocery shopping with her." Lily added.

"That was just cuz she knows nothin' about picking up good food!" That was half-true. Levy did know nothing about choosing the right ingredients but she never really minded because most of the times she ate at the guild hall. It became a problem when Gajeel visited her on some occasions and tried to cook something for the two of them. He would complain constantly and thoroughly on the lack of ingredients in her fridge or on the poor quality of those that were in her pantry. So, the dragon slayer assigned himself the task of taking Levy once per week to the market to buy good-quality vegetables, fruits and meat. In the end, Levy agreed as long as Gajeel would visit more often to cook for the both of them and eventually teach her how to cook.

"And Juvia saw Gajeel-kun walk Levy back to Fairy Hills and even carried her books for her."

"W-well…" Gajeel was sweating buckets right now. He thought no one had seen him do that since it had been late at night. He had spent the day with the Shrimp at Magnolia Park and while she read a set of newly purchased books with her head resting on his stomach, Gajeel decided to take a nap. When he woke up, he realized that it was very late and that Levy hadn't moved from her place for hours. Once he dragged her out of her little reading-bubble, he told her (not asked not offered, told her) he was gonna walk her back to Fairy Hills. Levy agreed happily and she collected her new books in her arms but by the size of the pile of books Gajeel really thought her little arms were going to break. That's how Gajeel ended up carrying Levy's books while walking her back to her dorm in the middle of the night. He didn't mind that at all; he enjoyed the Shrimp's company and her books weren't that heavy, but the fact that someone had seen them was just too embarrassing for him. Even more embarrassing was the fact that he didn't even notice that happened and least that that someone had been Juvia.

"Arg! Just shut the hell up! Leave me alone!" He threw his hands up in the air and let his head fall down with a loud thud on the table. Neither Juvia nor Lily tried to hide their loud laughter. It was just too easy and funny to get Gajeel all flustered when they talked about how he acted with Levy. It was just too obvious for them, and for a lot of their guildmates, that the iron dragon slayer had a soft spot for the little script mage but he was too stubborn to admit that.

"It's really okay for you to admit you miss her, you know?" Lily said wiping away a tear from the corner of his eye from laughing so hard.

"Juvia agrees. Juvia also misses Gray-sama when he's not with Juvia!" Juvia's eyes turned into hearts at the mere thought of her beloved Gray. "One time, Juvia was…" Gajeel tuned out from the conversation since he didn't have any interest in knowing anything about the Stripper.

He returned to what Lily just said. Did he really miss the Shrimp? It was just crazy, right? I mean, Gajeel really enjoyed spending time with her and it was fun to tease her to no end until she would puff out her cute little cheeks in annoyance at whatever the dragon slayer had said. It was Gajeel's secret hobby number two, much to Levy's frustration.

And, he guessed, he found himself entertained by her whenever she wanted to explain him the newest spell she had learned, because she looked so proud of herself and Gajeel couldn't hold down his smile when she had that look on her face. Most of the times Gajeel would have no idea about what she was talking about, but that was okay for her, since she only needed him to listen to her, not to understand what she was saying.

"yyy…" There was a faint noise outside the guild but Gajeel didn't put much attention to it. He was still busy trying to figure out if he really longed to see the Shrimp.

Another thing was the fact that the Shrimp seemed to enjoy his company and he had just a handful of people that did as well. She never complained when he sat down with her or walked with her; she would just look up at him and smile that cute little smile of hers as acknowledging Gajeel's presence. She even tried constantly to start a conversation with him by asking about his previous missions or about how Lily was doing (Gajeel always loved to talk about how awesome his cat was). And on those rare occasions in which Gajeel would gladly engage in the conversation, the Shrimp would always listen to anything he had to say and even comment on that, letting Gajeel know that he was being listened.

Additionally, time seemed to go faster when she was around. He wondered if she might be using time magic, since some days Gajeel found himself greeting the script mage early in the morning as she would enter the guildhall and just after a blink of an eye it would be nighttime already and he would be waving goodbye to the small bluenette.

"...ndyyy…" There was that noise again and it seemed to grow closer to the guild.

"Gajeel, did you hear something?" Lily asked his partner and Gajeel visibly shook his head to get out of his train of thoughts. Crap! He had been caught daydreaming about the Shrimp by his cat. He would never hear the end of this now.

"Huh? Didn't hear anything…" Gajeel shrugged because he really didn't hear anything. He was too busy thinking about Levy to be aware of his surroundings, even with his dragon slayer hearing. Lily and Juvia resumed their conversation and Gajeel ignored them once again. He placed his elbow on the table and rested his chin on his open palm to stare at farthest wall of the guild, his iron snacks long forgotten.

Where was he…? Oh, right! So, what if he enjoyed the Shrimp's company? Nothing wrong with that, right? She seemed to have some sort of spell on him because each time she was around, his mood would brighten up. _And_ she even casted her IRON spell every time she could so Gajeel could eat the best iron he had ever tried in his life. So it's logical for him to look forward each day to see her, right…? Right...?

'Holy crap! I DO miss her!' Gajeel thought and slapped one of his hands to his forehead. That was the only logical explanation for him to be going to the guild early on the morning and leaving late at night each day for the past two weeks. It was just in case he could see Levy arriving from her mission! He longed to see her so much that he wanted to be there the moment she stepped back into the guildhall. Oh, crap! He was so done for! There was no way Lily would let go of this now.

Gajeel groaned loudly in frustration and buried his face in his open palms. Juvia and Lily looked at him confusedly at first but then they understood that enlightenment had hit Gajeel's thick head. They were about to comment on that but there was that noise again but this time it was louder.

"...EENDYYY...!"

"Huh? I heard that…" Gajeel commented and looked at his partner to see if he wasn't just imagining things.

"Me too." Lily looked concerned.

"Juvia did too." Juvia started to look around the guildhall to try to pinpoint the source of that noise.

Suddenly, the three of them, as well as most of their guildmates that were in the guildhall, turned their heads to the entrance doors when they slammed open.

"WENDYY!" The source of the noise stood there at the threshold, looking as if she had run a marathon to get there.

Lissanna was standing at the entrance panting and sweating profusely. Her face and body were covered in scratches and bruises and one of her eyes was closed to keep out of it the blood that poured out of a gash in her forehead. She looked as if she was ready to collapse but she remained standing, with her back arched slightly forward. She couldn't give up yet; she needed Wendy's help! She couldn't give up yet!

She took another step forward into the guild and just then her guildmates noticed she wasn't alone. She was carrying someone's limp body on her back.

Levy's limp body.

She looked far worse than Lissanna. Bruises and cuts marred her pearly skin, her clothes were torn, her bandana was nowhere to be found letting her hair fall down and shadow her face, and a severe injury seemed to cover the entirety of her back with faint smoke streams coming out of it as if she had been burned severely. It looked like she was unconscious, or at least that was what everyone was hoping for.

"Wendy! I need your help!" Lissanna exclaimed desperately and it worked to get everyone out of their state of shock. People moved quickly to her side when she collapsed on her knees, sobbing and pleading for their help, still keeping Levy in place.

Gajeel just stared with wide eyes not believing what he was seeing. "Shrimp…"

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"Remember Gajeel, don't let her move around. Her wounds aren't healed all the way yet. I'll come back in the morning and finish healing her, okay?" The words of the kiddo replayed on Gajeel's mind.

He had volunteered to stay with the Shrimp for the night at the guild's infirmary. Neither Jet nor Droy were around since they went to their separate missions, and Bunny girl had left at some point during the day to someplace else, so there weren't many members which Gajeel had to intimidate to let him stay with the Shrimp.

Lissanna explained to them that on their way back, they were attacked by a dark guild presumably to use them as bait to attack Fairy Tail. They brought the girls to their headquarters that were not far from Hargeon and kept them there for a day before Levy found the way to break out from their prison. They fought the dark mages and eventually won with some minor injuries. When they thought their battle was over, one of the mages launched an attack to Lissanna who wasn't paying attention. Levy threw herself between her friend and the spell and got her back burned pretty badly. After that, Lissanna ran as fast as she could to the guildhall with Levy on her back and some minutes after taking off, Levy lost consciousness.

Gajeel was sitting beside Levy's bed, watching her back rise and fall gently with every breath she took. She was lying down on her belly, her hands rested to either side of her head, bandages covered the entirety of her back and her face was turned to the side facing Gajeel. She had been cleaned up and patched by Wendy, but even the little dragon slayer had limitations with her healing magic. That meant that Levy would have to wait until morning to get all her injuries healed. Still, it was a relief that her life wasn't in danger any longer.

Gajeel didn't know how long had he been there just staring at her. It felt like days and all he wanted was for the Shrimp to wake up to make time go faster.

He remembered what he was thinking just minutes before Lissanna entered the guild. He did miss Levy and he longed to see her again, but this wasn't what he had in mind. He wanted to hear her laughing and appreciate every wrinkle that formed at the corner of her eyes. He wanted to see her reading and decipher the story she read by the expressions in her face. He wanted to see her smile and feel the whole world fade away, because no light could even compare to how bright her smile was. And most importantly, he wanted to hear her voice and enjoy how she would voice out a 'Stupid Gajeel' with love and affection.

Seeing her like this, injured and lying on the bed all bandaged up, pained him deeply. Why didn't he realize sooner that she was that important to him? Why did it take him seeing her all battered up within an inch of her life to know how horrible his life would be without her? He couldn't even think about what could have happened if Lissanna had taken even one more minute to get to the guild; Wendy even said that she made it barely on time.

He needed her to wake up and he needed her to be fine, because he felt a great turmoil of emotions inside of him threatening to burst out any minute now. He felt angry; no, scratch that, he was furious at those who had done this to her. He sure was going to hunt down the son of a bitch that dared to harm his Shrimp. He felt anxious to see Levy's beautiful hazel eyes open once again. He wanted to marvel in that light that seemed to shine out from those gorgeous orbs. But above all, Gajeel felt useless. He felt useless for not being able to help her right now; he had no way to heal her injuries or ease her pain or even help her regain consciousness. He was incapable of doing anything else but to stare at her and try to command her eyes to snap open.

She had always been there for him when he was in her position. She stood by his side on Tenrou Island after his battle with Kawazu and Yomazu and now he wondered if she felt this way too. Gajeel felt like he couldn't stand one more second looking at her being like that. But then again, he didn't want to leave her alone; he wanted to be there for her as she had been there for him.

He was dragged out of his inner turmoil when he noticed the sightless twitch on Levy's hand that was resting just beside her head.

Then, Levy's cute little nose furrowed slightly and her eyes opened slowly, taking in her surroundings. Gajeel leaned closer to her, careful not to startle her and once her curious eyes focused on him she smiled sweetly.

"Hi, Gajeel" her voice was small, barely over a whisper but Gajeel heard her just as clear as any day.

"Hey, Shrimp. How are ya feeling?" His eyes scanned her for any hint of discomfort but found none.

"Sore." She giggled and Gajeel felt relief wash over him at hearing her laugh. It meant that she didn't feel as bad as she look like, most likely thanks to Wendy's magic. "I guess we're at the guild?"

Gajeel nodded. "Barmaid's sister brought ya back this afternoon."

Levy's eyes widened when she remembered her mission's partner. "Is Lissanna okay? Did Wendy look at her injuries? She was hurt during the battle and-" she rambled on in concern for the wellbeing of her friend when Gajeel placed his index finger gently over her lips, effectively silencing her.

"Calm down, Shrimp. She's fine. Kiddo checked her up and she went home with her sister and brother." He withdrew his finger and Levy sighed in relief. "Honestly, yer far worse than her, so ya should only worry about yerself."

Levy smiled at him for the way he showed his concern for her. "I'll be okay, Gajeel." She said sweetly.

"Ya shouldn't have done something so stupid in the first place." He scoffed giving her a disapproving gaze.

"That's rich coming from you, Mr. I throw myself as a human shield every chance I get." She teased him and Gajeel bristled at being called out.

"That's cuz I can take the hits easily, Shortstuff." He said without thinking and scolded himself inwardly at the visible hurt in Levy's eyes.

She deflated at his words. "I just wanted to protect my friend…" she said lowly. Levy knew she wasn't as strong as other guild members but it always hurt her to be reminded of that. Even if she was considered weak she had a strong resolve to help and protect her nakama, even if that meant she would end up hurt.

She was dragged out of her depressing thoughts by a gentle pat on her head. Gajeel stroked her hair soothingly with his big hand. "Don't go down there" he said gently as if he had been reading her mind. He sighed and pulled back his hand when she stopped looking so tormented and depressed. "Just remember ya ain't covered in scales or armor. Ya can't take point blank hits without risking yer life." His eyes softened when they landed on her bandaged back. "Just be more careful next time, alright?"

Levy smiled again and nodded "Right."

The solid script mage tried to stifle down a yawn but was unsuccessful. She was so tired but she was enjoying her conversation with Gajeel and she liked the way he showed his concern for her. Still, she really needed to rest for her body to recover.

Gajeel chuckled when he noticed she was battling away the sleepiness. He brushed away one loose strand of hair from her face and said gently "Sleep. I'll be here when ya wake up"

Levy nodded and yawned one more time before closing her eyes. Just when she was about to let sleep take away her mind, she mumbled lowly "I missed you, Gajeel." Then, her breathing slowed down, announcing to the dragon slayer that she had finally fallen asleep.

Gajeel's heart thumped faster in his chest by the last words the bookworm had said. He blushed profusely and couldn't hold down the smile that seemed to threaten to split his face in two. She had been thinking about him; she had missed him probably as much as he had missed her.

His ears peaked up when he heard noises from outside the infirmary and he turned to the room's window to see that morning had come in a blink of an eye. Time magic, there was no other explanation.

He looked back at the sleeping mage and felt warmth spread through his chest before mumbling something not even Cobra would have been able to hear.

"I missed ya too, Levy."

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 **That's it for this prompt! Thanks for reading and I hope you liked it! Saddly, this is the last prompt I have ready so it will take me a while to upload the rest of them but fear not! I WILL post a story for each prompt!**

 **Follow me on tumblr as whereisthefood123 [can someone tell me how to get fuckyeahgajevy tumblr to share my stories? I've been tagging them with #gajevyweek but I haven't been successful *sigh*]**

 **Funfact! This is the shortest story I have ever written because my mind cannot stop when I invest some of my time into a story (my mind: "Okay, that's alright, it's good, good. But what if we add this!" and then it all goes from a 1k story to a 8k story [That's how 'For whom do you stand for?' started haha])**

 **Thanks again for reading! Click on follow to get a notification when I'll update this!**

 **WTF (Where'sTheFood)**


	4. My turn? (Day 3)

**Hello to everyone and welcome back! Yes, I finally updated the next prompt of Gajevy week (I'm incredibly sorry for my lateness... I went on a road trip for the weekend and couldn't finish this sooner). So, I bring you Day 3 - Pillow Talk**

 **Summary: Gajeel and Levy talk about anything and nothing at all and the conversation suddenly turns serious.**

 **Warning: This is going to be a rollercoaster of emotions, so fasten your seat belts and I hope you enjoy the ride!**

 **Timeframe: Cannon-verse; after their time at the Council, before Alvarez war. They aren't a couple (yet), just very good friends.**

 **I would like to ask you a favor: if this gets any reaction on you I want you to post a review with what was your reaction ('I squealed', 'I awww', something like that). It helps me to know if what I'm writing is getting the desired effects.**

 **Words count: 5.4 k**

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"Would ya rather… uhm… would ya rather eat one of those winged blueish fish raw or lick Elfman's foot?" Gajeel asked and tilted his head to the side to see the bluenette that was lying beside him.

"Ew! Hmm, can I at least put some sauce on the fish?" Levy furrowed her nose and eyebrows in disgust. She couldn't decide whether the winged fish was more disgusting that Elfman's foot.

"Nope. Raw."

"Fine. I would lick Elfman's foot."

"For real?!"

"Yes, have you ever tried one of those fishes, Gajeel? No, thank you. I rather lick Elfman's foot."

"Ew that's gross, Shrimp."

She bursted out laughing and the sound bubbled around them complementing the beautiful place they were in. Gajeel and Levy were lying down on their backs side by side in a clearing in the forest close to Magnolia, staring up at the night sky full of stars. They had just finished a mission and were on their way back to the guild when they decided to set a camp in the forest to stay for the night and enjoy a good time just the two of them.

For this mission, neither did Lily nor Jet and Droy joined them. The three of them were busy with some other stuff, so Gajeel and Levy decided that it would be okay for them to go just the two of them to this mission. It went smoothly and they had a great time together.

"Alright, my turn." She took the magic ball from Gajeel's hand and give it a good shake. It was a toy that she bought at Era during their time at the Council and the two mages found it to be their favorite game. The ball could show only one of three possible outcomes: 'Truth', 'Would you rather' or 'Storytime'.

"Yay! 'Truth'!" She exclaimed once the ball settled in one of its phrases. "Okay…Have you ever… hmm… have you ever eaten one of Erza's swords or armors?" She turned to him just in time to see him blanch.

"Uhm… yeah… once…" He shuddered at the memory of what the swordswoman mage did to him once she found out what he had done. "I'll never try that again, though. Not worth it." She laughed again and he couldn't hold down his own chuckle.

Their game was simple, one of them would shake the magic ball and ask a question to the other one depending on the phrase showed by the toy. If it was 'Truth', they could only ask yes/no questions and the other one wasn't obliged to expand on their answer. If it was 'Would you rather', they had to present a scenario with two choices and the other one will _have_ to choose one, with no option to choose none. Finally, if it was 'Storytime', they would ask an open question and the other one would have to elaborate on their answer until the one who asked was satisfied by it. The main rule was that they had to be completely honest to each other.

They had played this game with Lily quite frequently when they were at the Council. Since the reincorporation of Fairy Tail, they hadn't been able to play, so, seeing that they were already waiting until morning to get back to the guild, Levy suggested for them to play a little bit.

"Okay, now is your turn." Levy handed over the magic ball to Gajeel which he shook quite roughly. "Careful! Or you'll break it!"

"Calm down, Shrimp…" He grinned when he saw 'Storytime' on the ball. He had the perfect question for her. "Alright, 'Storytime'. What's the most embarrassing thing that had happen to ya due to yer shortness?"

Levy's face turned crimson at the memory and tried to cover her blush with her hands. "Uhmm… I…" she felt so embarrassed to tell Gajeel this but she didn't want to break the rules and they were having a good time together. So, she braced herself, pulled her hands off of her face and started telling her story. "One time I was at the mall and this police officer thought I was a lost child and asked me about my parents' whereabouts."

Gajeel laughed loudly but then stopped when he noticed she wasn't finished with her story.

"Then, he brought me to the main office of the mall to wait for my 'parents' to pick me up." She covered her eyes in embarrassment before finishing her tale "I had to call Lu-chan to pick me up and made her swear to never tell anyone about it."

Gajeel's laughter was louder if that was even possible and he was clutching his sides from how hard he was laughing. He knew it was going to be a good story but he didn't expected to be _this_ good!

"Oh! Come on… it isn't that funny, Gajeel!" She tried to look angry that he was laughing at her misfortune but she couldn't hold down the giggles that escaped from her mouth. Gajeel's laughter was just too contagious.

"Gihihi! Yes it is! Gihihihi!" He wiped away the tears that escaped from his eyes and did his best to calm down for them to continue with the game.

"Are you done now?" Levy huffed.

"Yeah, yeah. Gihi" He finally stopped laughing and handed the magic ball to Levy for her to give it a little shake.

"Okay, 'Storytime'! Hmm…" She tapped her chin with her index finger thinking on a good question to ask Gajeel. "Okay, tell me what is your happiest memory?"

Gajeel hummed, closed his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest trying to recall all the good times he had had in his life that could be considered as his 'happiest memory'. There were a lot of good moments with Lily and with Levy, even good memories at Fairy Tail with Salamander and the kiddo, but he knew exactly which one was his happiest memory.

"Flying on Metallicana's back." He grinned and looked at her as if stating that that was all he was willing to say.

Levy narrowed her eyes at him. "Expand"

"Oh, come on, Shrimp!" He complained at her one-word command but she cut him short before he could throw a tantrum.

"You know the rules, Mister. Now expand on you story." She pointed her index finger at him accusingly and Gajeel relented.

"Fine." Gajeel huffed and crossed his arms behind his head to use them as a pillow. "Ya know, Metallicana was never the kind of father to say 'well done' or those pansy things parents are supposed to say to their brats. But whenever I mastered a new spell or passed one of his stupid tests, he would place me on his back and take off flying." He said and a small smile appeared on his face at the memory of his foster parent.

"Where to?"

He grunted but answered her anyways. "Anywhere and nowhere. To the mountains, to the sea… the destiny didn't really mattered. He knew I just liked to ride on his back so he took me anywhere he pleased." His expression softened in nostalgia for the days he spent with his dragon.

It has been over a year since the last time Gajeel saw Metallicana. It happened during the battle with Tartaros and in the aftermath the Iron Dragon disappeared along with the other dragons. Even when he wanted to stay strong and look unfazed by the death of his foster father, Gajeel felt devastated when he said his farewell to his dragon. And to add up to his emotional burden, Fairy Tail disbanded just after the battle was over. If it hadn't been for Levy and Lily, Gajeel was sure he would have lost his mind and returned to his old habits from Phantom Lord.

Levy noticed his somehow sad expression and placed her hand on his shoulder reassuringly. "It sounds wonderful. He sure was a great father." She smiled kindly at him.

"Tch, he still was a bastard, but he wasn't half bad." Gajeel said good-naturedly and shook his head to get rid of the nostalgia. "My turn?" Levy nodded and handed him the magic ball.

"'Would ya rather'... uhmm…" He looked at her and paused for a moment. He wanted to get to more personal topics but decided to test the waters first. "Would ya rather... become a guild master or a Wizard Saint?" At least this would help him know about her plans for the future, probably.

"Huh?" She was taken aback slightly by the question since she had never given a thought about it. "Hmm, I think I would rather be a guild master. You know, for all the family unity and the fun at the guild. That's something I would never get tired of." She giggled lightly and Gajeel looked at her in confusion.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh, just how ridiculous it would be for me to be a guild master, haha. _Or_ a Wizard Saint." She joked but he noticed a slight sadness in her tone.

"Why?" He asked incredulously.

"Well, I'm not near strong enough to be either. That's what makes it funny." She shrugged her shoulders casually.

Even after unlocking her second origin and after their time in the Council, Levy still felt like she wasn't a strong mage. She had come a long way from when she met Gajeel, but she still felt like 'strong' wasn't a suitable adjective to describe her. Still, it didn't bother her that much as of recent. She had come to terms with that idea. Kind of.

"Now, wait a minute!" Gajeel said in his gruff voice and propped his torso up on his elbows to look down at her. She looked up at him in confusion for his sudden outburst but before she could ask what happened he stated firmly "Yer the smartest person I've ever known. Heck, yer probably the smartest person in all Earthland. If ya want to be a guild master or a Wizard Saint then go for it. And to hell with anyone that dares to tell ya ya ain't strong enough! I'll arrest them!" He finished and pinned her down with one of his most determined glares as if daring her to disagree with him.

Levy's eyes widened at his statement. He had never complimented her like this and it was a surprise to hear Gajeel express his thoughts so openly. She smiled at him. Gajeel always knew what to say to her to regain her self-confidence.

"You know you can't arrest people any longer, right? We're not in the Council anymore." She giggled and when he noticed her smile reached up to her eyes he let himself relax and plopped down back on the grass.

"Tch, just watch me, Shortstuff. I can arrest whoever the hell I want to." He smirked and she matched him with her own playful grin.

"My turn?" Gajeel nodded and handed her the magic ball. "'Would you rather'... Hmm… Oh, I know! Would you rather to not eat iron for an entire year or go shopping with... with Juvia for a day?"

"Not eat iron for a year." He surprised Levy with his immediate response.

"Eh?! Really?!"

"Yeah! Have ya ever gone shopping with Juvia? I went once. ONCE! Never going through that hell again…" He shuddered when he remembered the water mage dragging him from store to store, asking for what would look good on her for her beloved Gray-sama to notice her. How the hell was he supposed to know what the Ice Freak liked? Oh, but he couldn't say that to Juvia because she would start crying (which did happened).

"Let me guess, she asked you about what Gray would like and never stopped talking about him?" Gajeel raised an eyebrow at her and his eyes widened in confusion. Had she developed mind reading abilities?

She laughed at his expression. "I went with her too once after Tenrou Island. I really thought that she would eventually get tired of talking about Gray but she proved me wrong. Hahaha. After that I decided to either go shopping with _all_ the girls or just go shopping by myself." She admitted with a grimace at the memory of one of the worst shopping trips Levy had ever experienced.

"Gihi! Good choice!" Gajeel chuckled and bumped his fist with hers in a friendly manner.

"Your turn!" Levy said and handed him the toy.

When the ball showed 'Storytime', Gajeel's brows furrowed in thought. What could he ask her now? Well, there was a question he commonly used whenever he was out of ideas so he believed it would be alright to use it now. "What's the most valuable thing ya own?"

He knew the answer to that question, but still it was fun to hear her ramble about the rarest book she owned. It was one of those first edition books that had only a handful of copies printed out. She had confessed that it cost her a fortune to get it but it was worth it. Yep, that was the most expensive thing she owned, or so she had told him when they were at the Council.

"My mom's diary." She said with a small smile and Gajeel was taken aback by her answer. That wasn't what she had told him the previous times he had asked her the same thing.

"W-what...? Yer lying or ya lied before then." He accused her and she glared at him for even suggesting she was breaking the same rules she had created.

"No, I'm not! And I didn't lied before. You had asked me about the most _expensive_ thing I own and that's 'Ancient Fiorian and Boscan folklore stories'" Ah, yes. That's the rare book Gajeel knew about. "But you asked me just now about the most _valuable_ thing I own and that's my mom's diary. I didn't lied; they are just two different questions."

"Alright, alright." He said apologetically. He examined her expression once her eyes softened; he didn't know if he should press on with _this_ story since it was a touchy subject. He knew Levy had lost both her parents when she was barely ten years old and joined the guild after that. She had never talked about it with him; he just knew about this because Cana told him one night they were drinking at the guild hall. Right now, Gajeel felt torn between wanting to not upset her by bringing back bad memories and wanting to know more about her, about her past, about her parents, about what made this diary so special to her.

As if she had read his mind for the second time this night, Levy continued with her story. "My mom used to write every night on her diary. She wrote anything that crossed her mind. I got to learn how she fell in love with my dad and all the weird food cravings she had when she was pregnant with me." She giggled and Gajeel noticed her expression wasn't tainted with sadness but with fondness. "She even wrote how proud she felt when I casted my first spell."

She looked at him and noticed his expression was conflicted between wanting to know more and not wanting to say the wrong thing. She smiled at him kindly. "It's alright, Gajeel. It isn't painful to talk about it; well, not anymore. It's even comforting."

Gajeel's expression softened at her words. "Ya probably caused a lot of havoc when ya were little. Well, littler than right now, gihi."

"Ha ha, very funny." She said sarcastically. "But I actually was like a 'little angel'. My mom's words." She finished proudly.

"No doubt about the 'little' part. Ough!" He huffed when she punched him on his side for teasing her _again_ with her size. "How can ya punch like that with yer little fis- w-wait wait! Okay okay I'm done!" He raised his hands defensively when she prepared to punch him one more time.

Levy giggled and extended her hand to him. "It's my turn now." He placed the magic ball in her hand and after a little shake it stopped in 'Truth'. Levy took a minute to think about her question. She had noticed they were getting into more meaningful inquiries but she didn't wanted to press things too far. Maybe asking something about his plans for the future would be alright?

"'Truth'. Okay, so, Gajeel, have you ever thought of having kids? Like, one day forming your own family?"

'Yeah, with you' Gajeel blushed furiously at the mere thought, but didn't voiced it out. He stared up to sky refusing to meet Levy's gaze unless he risked it to say it out loud and freak Levy out. If he was honest, he had thought about that several times. He had imagined how their house would be, how great it would be waking up next to her, how amazing their brats would be having Levy's brains and Gajeel's brawn. Yeah, Gajeel had thought about it thoroughly but he couldn't say that to Levy, right? Besides, it was just a 'Truth' question so he didn't needed to expand too much in his answer.

"Y-yeah…" He cleared his throat to get rid of the awkwardness that this topic brought to him, but the blush didn't disappeared from his cheeks.

"Really? That's really nice! I think you would be a great dad one day." Levy blushed and looked up to the sky too when she noticed that what she just said might have sound a little weird. If she was honest, she had imagined herself forming a family with him. But she couldn't say that, right? It would be just too awkward… They were just friends and she didn't even know how he felt about her. So, yeap, it was probably super weird to say that he could be a great dad one day, but hey! she really believed that.

Now, the two dorks were looking up to the sky, blushing intensely while thinking about the way their kids would be and how awkward it would be to confess their thoughts to the other. There was no way they could say that out loud. Nope, that would be just too weird...

Gajeel registered Levy's words and his heart started to beat faster in his chest. Did she really think he would be a great dad someday? C-could it mean that she wanted him to be her kids' father?

'No, stop that!' He scolded himself internally. He couldn't be thinking like that. Not after everything he had done. He didn't deserve that kind of life. The sins of his past were still too heavy on Gajeel's shoulders.

He sighed and looked the other way from Levy. "Still, don't think I would cut it out as a father." He said in a sad tone and Levy looked at him in confusion.

"Why would you say that?"

"Tch, don't forget everything I've done, Shortstack. Don't think any kid would want me as their dad." His tone was somber and Levy knew he was going down the self-loathing path. She hated whenever he did this to himself. Couldn't he see what a good person he had become? Couldn't he see himself like Levy saw him?

She placed her hand gently on his shoulder to get his attention back to her. When he looked directly into her eyes she said softly but firmly "Any kid would be lucky to have you as a father, Gajeel. You are a good man, even when you are too stubborn to believe it yourself." She smiled at him but his expression remained troubled.

How could Shorty be the one saying that he was a good man? She had seen first-handedly how much of a monster he was. Why would she even think there was good inside Gajeel's rotten soul? How could she believe _that_ if not even Gajeel thought there was even an ounce of goodness inside of him?

He lowered his gaze, refusing to look straight to her eyes. Levy noticed that he still looked troubled and it pained her to see him not believing her words. "Gajeel…" She was about to comment further into this but he shook his head.

"Just drop it, Shortstuff." He said and his tone didn't leave a place for arguments. He grabbed the magic ball from her hand to keep going with the game. As much as Levy hated to see him like this, she knew there was a limit to which she could push Gajeel and apparently she had reached that point already. She sighed in defeat and waited for the ball to show the next phrase.

The toy stopped in 'Storytime' and as much as Gajeel wanted to move to happier topics, he wanted to make it clear to Levy that he was still the same monster that attacked her several years back and that she shouldn't forget it. He knew it was going to be painful to ask the next question but he needed to make sure she understood that the past cannot be changed, not matter how much you'd want to.

"'Storytime'. When was the time when ya were the most afraid?" Gajeel asked and dared to look at her. He knew she was going to say that it was the night they met and he was going to push her to explain further so she could understand why he wasn't able to forgive himself for what he did to her so many years ago.

Levy looked at him in confusion and sighed because she knew where he wanted to get to. Still, that wasn't the answer to his question.

"On Tenrou Island, when I left you to fight on your own against Kawazu and Yomazu." She looked away in shame at the memory and Gajeel placed his hand on her cheek to avoid her looking away from him. He stared at her with seriousness.

"Don't li-"

"I'm not lying." She interrupted and stared at him defiantly. He was shocked by her expression and retreated his hand when he noticed she wasn't going to look away from him again. He blinked in astonishment trying to understand what she just said and Levy sighed once again before continuing with her story.

"I was afraid that you were going to die that time. And I hated myself for leaving you behind." Her voice was small and her gaze softened into something akin to shame.

"I told ya to leave m-"

"I know…" she interrupted him once again. "I know you said that I needed to tell everybody about Grimoire Heart. I know it was the right choice at the moment. But I still felt horrible for leaving you. You had just saved me and then I was running from the battle leaving you to fend for yourself when you were already injured." Tears prickled at the corner of her eyes but she refused to let them fall. "I really feared you were going to die that time, Gajeel. And I hated that I wasn't strong enough to stay by your side and fight together." She swallowed hard to keep her voice from cracking.

Gajeel stared at her with wide eyes. He had no idea she felt this awful about that time. He remembered the way she knelt down beside him when the battle was over and begged for him to still be alive. He thought that she was crying due to the stress of the battle; he never considered it had been that hard for her to run away from the fight.

"I-I'm sorry, Shrimp… I j-just…" He didn't know what to say. Here he was, wanting to make a point on how a horrible person he was but her answer just proved him how a wonderful person _she_ was. Now he just felt bad for making her relive that painful memory.

"I know what your point was in asking me that question, Gajeel." She looked at him straight in the eye with a fierce determination that left Gajeel mute. "But there's something you need to know."

Gajeel swallowed hard and paid close attention to Levy's words. "That night, the night we met… it was hard, but I moved past that long ago… That memory doesn't haunt me anymore, Gajeel. And it shouldn't haunt you either." Her gaze softened and she brushed one stray hair from his forehead before placing her hand gently on his cheek. "Learn to forgive yourself." Levy smiled her dazzling smile and all Gajeel could do was focus on his breathing.

His heart beat faster in his chest and he felt his throat closed down denying his words to be voiced out. There were so many things he wanted to say to her; he wanted to ask her how could she move past that night, he wanted to know the reasons to why should he forgive himself, but most importantly, he wanted to thank her because in Fairy Tail many people had forgiven him (it took some time but they eventually considered Gajeel as nakama) and even when she was the first one to forgive him, she was the _only one_ who had told him that it was okay for him to forgive himself. He was grateful for her kind words because these words would help him heal his soul and eventually reach that point in which he would consider himself worthy of Levy's friendship, and maybe, of her love.

Levy noticed Gajeel's stunned expression and willed herself not to laugh at him. "My turn?" She said and he shook his head to snap out of his shock and handed the ball to Levy. She retreated her hand from his cheek and took the toy from his grasp.

"Let's move to happier things, shall we?" She smiled sweetly at him and he grinned in response. "So, 'Storytime'. What is the best thing that has ever happen to you?"

Gajeel looked at her in confusion. "I already told ya my happiest memory… Ain't that the same?"

"Well, it can be an event or something that triggered a series of events. Like meeting Lily, or joining Fairy Tail…"

Gajeel hummed and looked up to the sky thinking about the best answer to Levy's question. Sure meeting Lily was absolutely life changing since he found in the black Exceed a best friend and a trustworthy partner. Also, having Metallicana as his father gave him some of his best memories as well as his dragon slayer's skills. And hell, he had to accept that joining Fairy Tail was one of the best things that ever happened to him since it gave him the chance to redeem himself and use his strength for good causes.

 _Learn to forgive yourself_. Levy's words replayed in his mind and he looked back at her. She was still waiting for his answer with those beautiful hazel eyes looking expectantly at him. Her mouth was set in a small smile, she probably was amused by seeing the gears on Gajeel's mind set in motion.

"So, what's your answer Gajeel?"

As he stared at her, he knew what the truthful answer to her question was.

"You." He said without any trace of hesitation. Levy's cheeks tinted a shade of pink at his words and her mouth set into an 'o' shape. Before Gajeel's courage would leave him, he willed himself to continue with his answer.

"Ya are the best thing that ever happen to me. Ya forgave me. Ya became my friend. And ya made me a better man." He enlisted some of the things she did for him but there were so many more reasons for Levy to be the best thing that ever happen to him. Still, he refrained to those three points and he watched how the blush in Levy's face intensified. He could feel his own face heating up at his confession and he swallowed hard before finishing with his declaration.

"So, thank ya, Levy. F-for everything…" He said and looked up to the sky again in embarrassment. Here he was pouring his heart out to her and she was just staring at him with wide eyes and a flushed face.

He was certain that she was about to freak out and probably would call it a night. She would probably want to act as if nothing happen and even when it would hurt him deeply, Gajeel would swallow his pride and go along with what she would decide as the best course of action. Still, he felt content to finally have said all of that to her.

Levy on her part was stunned by his answer. D-did he really just say that _she_ was the best thing to ever happen to him? She could hear her thundering heart in her ears and felt how butterflies started to flutter in her stomach. When she noticed he wasn't looking at her she realized she hadn't say anything in return. But what could she say to that?

She steeled herself to do something brave. She turned to lay on her side facing Gajeel and, without taking another second to reconsider, Levy placed her hand over Gajeel's and intertwined her fingers with him. Gajeel looked back at her with wide eyes not believing what she was doing and Levy forced herself not to look away in embarrassment.

"Y-you're also the best thing that ever happen to me." She said sheepishly but didn't break eye contact with him.

Gajeel's breath hitched at her words. He turned to lay on his side facing her too without removing his hand from her grasp. Then, she took another brave step and continued.

"You protected me time and time again. You became my friend. You made me stronger and bigger than I ever thought I could be. And above all that, you believed in me even when I didn't believed in myself."

Levy averted her eyes from him for a moment and took a deep breath. "So, I guess that… what I'm trying to say is… Thank you, Gajeel. For everything." She stared directly at his crimson eyes and smiled beautifully.

Gajeel couldn't believe what he just heard. She was thanking him, _him_ , for everything? But that didn't make any sense! She… she just…

'Oh, God. She's just fucking perfect.' He thought and found it incredibly hard to look away from her hazel eyes.

He removed his hand gently from her grasp and before she could think that he was rejecting her, he reached out to her with both his arms and brought her closer to his chest for a gentle hug. He buried his face into her hair and took a deep breath to let her scent wash away all his worries.

Levy was surprised by his action but she didn't opposed him. Instead, she melted into his embrace and pressed her face into his hard chest, breathing in his metallic scent and welcoming the warmth his body generated.

There were so many things that Gajeel expressed through this embrace and somehow Levy understood him perfectly.

 _I'll always protect ya._

 _I'll stay by yer side as long as ya let me._

But above all that, he thanked her. He thanked her for her kind words. He thanked her for everything she had done for him. And he thanked her for sharing this moment together.

Levy couldn't help but smile and feel contented to be in his arms. It was the place where she felt safer and soon she started to drift off to sleep.

"Hey, Shorty…" he mumbled into her hair just before she let sleep take away her mind.

"Huh?"

"We should do this more often, ya know?" He pushed back slightly to look at her face. When he noticed her half-lidded eyes he knew she didn't understood what he was saying and he chuckled. "I mean, hanging out just the two of us."

Levy smiled at him and nodded. "I would love that." Then, she returned to her position within Gajeel's arms.

He reached out for a nearby blanket and pulled it over their bodies. He then proceeded to drift off to sleep with the woman he loved in his arms.

Yes, this was definitely their favorite game, but they'll have to ask Lily to let them play just the two of them alone again. It seemed that their souls were in great need to have this pleasant pillow talk.

* * *

 **That's it! Thank you very much for reading and I hope I'll be able to post the next prompts sooner. (They might not be as long as the firsts prompts but they will still be substancially long to fill your Gajevy need). I haven't decided yet what to do with 'Trouble twins' so it might be the last prompt I'll do.**

 **Remember:** **if this got any reaction out of you I want you to post a review with what was your reaction ('I squealed', 'I awww', something like that). It helps me to know if what I'm writing is getting the desired effects.**

 **Tell me what you think about this story!**

 **WTF (Where'sTheFood?)**


	5. Mission impossible? (Day 4)

**Hello everyone! Sorry it took me this long to post another story for the next prompt of Gajevy week. This one is for Day 4- Trouble Twins.**

 **Hope you like it! Leave me a review to tell me your opinion!**

 **Word count: 2.4 k (shorter than usual, but good quality [I hope so])**

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When Wendy and Romeo accepted this job, they never believed it would be this hard. But here they were in the middle of the room back to back, each one tied up tightly to a chair with no possibility to use their magic to get free.

Their enemies were indeed formidable. They had managed to bind both young mages in an instant and place a rune script to prevent them from using their magic. Now, two of their foes were approaching menacingly towards them. Their steps were slow as if taunting the two mages to try to save themselves from their impending doom. Their weapons pointed directly at each mage; the end of the cannons glistened in the dim light of the room.

"Now, do you give up?" The third enemy said with cockiness in her voice from her position on the far end of the room. She sat proudly on her 'throne' with eyes that gleamed with mirth at the sight of the two defeated mages.

"We can't!" Wendy's voice quivered slightly with fear but still roared in determination. She strongly believed that Fairy Tail mages never gave up, no matter how strong their opponent might be. Besides, the alternative for standing their ground was just impossible.

Behind her, Romeo squirmed slightly to try to get the binding around his torso to loosen up a little bit but it was futile. "Stop this!" the fire mage said but their enemies' grins just widened in response.

"As you wish…" The 'queen' narrowed her eyes at them. "Ready your weapons!" She commanded the other two foes who were now four steps away from Romeo and Wendy. These two raised their guns and pointed them directly to the mages' heads. Wendy's eyes widened when she realized there was no way they would come out of this unscathed.

The 'queen' smirked at the fear in the mages' faces, pointy canines could be seen in her grin. "This is what you get for trying to stop us! Fire!" she slammed her fists on each side of her 'throne' and her two allies did as they were told.

"No!" Romeo yelled and closed his eyes when their enemies pressed the trigger of their guns.

 _ **Splash!**_

"What are you doing?" Lily stood up by the threshold of the room in his battle form while holding three grocery bags in his arms.

There, in the middle of the living room, he found Wendy and Romeo tied up to two of the kitchen chairs with what seemed to be several of Levy's headbands. A couple steps away from them, stood Asuka and Yajeh shooting at them with two water guns without any mercy even when the other two mages were squirming trying to get free from the unyielding assault. On the other side of the room, Shutora was laughing evilly while sitting on what looked like a makeshift throne made out of a huge pile of cushions and pillows stacked up on the couch.

"Lily! Make them stop!" Wendy pleaded and was attacked by another blast of water from Yajeh.

Lily sighed and placed the bags on the table beside the entrance hall before closing the door behind him and putting on one of his most serious glares.

"Yajeh! Asuka! Stop your firing at once! Shutora, get down here right now!" The kids stopped in what they were doing when they finally noticed the black Exceed in the room. Yajeh and Asuka put down their weapons and Shutora quickly climbed down from her 'throne' to stand beside her brother.

The two siblings put on their most innocent expression and beamed at their favorite uncle. They looked like little angels but Lily knew better than to fall for that trick.

"Hi, Uncle Lily!" Yajeh said in a cheerful voice and rapidly hid the water gun behind his back. Asuka noticed this and did the same as her friend. At the same time, Shutora did a quick movement with her left hand behind her back, dispelling the runes around Wendy and Romeo.

The two older mages were finally able to remove their bindings and soon, they stood up from their chairs and made their way to stand behind the children, dripping water on the floor with each movement they made.

Lily ran a hand down his face in exasperation. He was used to the twins' mischiefs but this time he honestly was surprised, and even slightly impressed. Wendy, Romeo and Asuka were supposed to be there helping Lily babysit the twins while Levy and Gajeel left for a mission not far from Magnolia. The Exceed had mentioned that he could take care of the twins by himself but Gajeel and Levy insisted on him having some help since the kids seemed to be more and more troublesome with each passing day. Apparently, 'the help' were in dire need of help themselves.

"Can someone tell me what happened here?" Lily asked after taking a deep breath to calm the headache that was starting to pound in his head. Romeo explained everything calmly.

The Exceed had gone out for 10 minutes. 10 minutes. He went to the grocery store and back as quickly as he could because they were almost out of juice and snacks and hungry and thirsty kids were the worst to control. In that time frame, Shutora, Yajeh and Asuka managed to tie Wendy and Romeo up to the kitchen chairs, place magic-cancelling runes around them, create a throne over the couch and attack the two defenseless mages with water guns. And, according to their tale, it took them longer to stack up the pillows and cushions on the couch than it took them to bound Wendy and Romeo.

"Thank you for saving us, Lily" Wendy grimaced, droplets of water still falling from her hair and clothes.

"We wouldn't have gone so far if you had agreed to give us some cookies" Shutora argued while crossing her little arms over her chest. There was no doubt she was Gajeel's daughter for the cocky attitude she proudly displayed any time she got.

"Shutora, I went to the store because we were out of cookies…" Lily said in a firm and kind tone that showed love and discipline at the same time.

"Oohh…" The kids chorused when realization reached their minds. That explained why Wendy and Romeo refused to give them cookies… which lead to them being tied up to the chairs.

"Asuka, why did you betray us? I thought you were on our side." Romeo asked the young shooter mage who looked up at him.

"Well, they offered me a water gun. How could I refuse?" Asuka grinned and shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly.

Lily face-palmed and groaned when he heard the rustling sound of grocery bags being examined by two pairs of small eager hands.

Maybe it would be a good idea to play outside on the backyard. The weather was nice and the twins seemed to have too much energy to be playing indoors. Maybe some outdoor exercise would be good for them.

* * *

 _Maybe it wasn't that good idea to play outside…_ Lily admitted inwardly by contemplating the sight before him.

He had gone inside to get some juice for the children. 3 minutes at most. And now he found Wendy and Asuka sprawled out unceremoniously on the ground with eyes spinning around in dizziness. Not far from them, Romeo was jumping as fast as he could, sweating profusely, and his face showed only one emotion: panic.

The twins held each end of the jumping rope and made it spin faster and faster, bringing their arms as high as they could only to bring them down as low as possible in a quick motion. Even for Lily's sharp eyes it was hard to keep track with its speed.

The inevitable happened when Romeo missed a step and tripped with the rope. It all happened in the blink of an eye and somehow Romeo ended up tumbling head over heels and landed hard on his back beside Wendy.

"Yeah! We won!" Yajeh exclaimed and Shutora fist pumped to the air in excitement.

Yes, Lily had suggested to play jumping the rope in an attempt to burn out some of the twins' unlimited amount of energy but apparently Lily completely forgot that they liked to spin the rope instead of jumping it. Lily sighed, scolding himself inwardly for not foreseeing this outcome.

"Uncle Lily! Now it's your turn!" Shutora exclaimed and waved at him to get in position for jumping the rope.

"Maybe later, sweetie." Lily said and made his way to the defeated mages that were still trying to get rid of the dizziness.

The twins' shoulders sunk in disappointment but Lily knew he couldn't let himself be fooled by their act. The twins had this rule about him not being allowed to use Aera while jumping the rope, for obvious reasons, and even with Lily's fit physical condition it was hard to keep up with the pace to which the twins spun the rope.

"Well! Then, come on Wendy! It's your turn again!" Shutora said and made a motion to her brother to start spinning the rope. Wendy just groaned and refused to move from her spot on the ground.

"How do you keep up with them Lily? They… they are…" Romeo commented while trying, and failing, to sit up. He was still too dizzy to stop hugging the grass.

"A handful." Lily supplied and chuckled when both Wendy and Romeo nodded in agreement. "They just have too much energy. Guess it has to do with having dragon slayer's blood."

"Yeah… but, still-" Wendy started but was interrupted by the twins calling after her again. "Uhm! Asuka! It's your turn to jump the rope!"

Asuka blanched when she saw the speed to which the twins were spinning the rope. She was supposed to jump into _that_ horizontal tornado?! "Uhm, not happening… I think I still can't feel my legs" She sat up and start rubbing her sore thighs and feet.

"Aww, come on!" the twins groaned at the same time, getting frustrated that neither of the others wanted to keep playing.

Suddenly, two figures rushed past Wendy, Romeo, Asuka and Lily and jumped right into the middle of the spinning rope.

"Mind if we join in?"

"Mom!"

"Dad!"

"Gihi!"

Levy and Gajeel had just returned from their mission and when they saw their kids spinning the rope in the backyard they couldn't help but join them in the fun.

"Yaay!" the twins exclaimed excitedly and started to spin the rope faster and faster. Levy and Gajeel were facing each other while jumping from one foot to the other keeping up with the speed of the rope. All the while, the couple was grinning playfully and challenging each other with their glares.

"You can do it Dad!" Shutora exclaimed from her end of the rope.

"Come on, Mom! Show him who's the best!" Yajeh shouted without slowing down.

"Ya cannot win against me, Shrimp." Gajeel taunted. It actually was quite amusing seeing Gajeel jumping the rope since his height was quite a problem with how short his children were. He had to bend down slightly to avoid the rope from hitting him in the face.

"We'll see about that, Black Steel." Levy smirked. Even when Gajeel was more physically fit than her, Levy's short stature and slim body allowed her to be quick in her movements, which was incredibly helpful when competing against a dragon slayer in jumping the rope.

On the sidelines, Wendy, Romeo and Asuka stared wide-eyed at the couple that seemed to have no problem in keeping up with the pace the twins set.

"J-just… how?"

"Are they even touching the ground?"

"I think they are cheating… there's no way for them to be jumping that fast!"

Lily chuckled at seeing the dumbstruck expression on the three mages. He was quite used to the antics of the family and he even joined them from time to time. So, it was to be expected for the three guests to be this impressed by their game.

 _Oh and it's about to get even better_. Lily thought and chuckled once again.

"Let's see how you can keep up with this!" Levy exclaimed and did a quick movement with her left hand. "Solid script magic: Rope!"

A second rope was materialized through her magic and the twins grabbed each end of it with their free hand. Their grins widened when they understood what their mother's intentions were and they started to spin the second rope at a fast pace too. The two ropes were spinning in opposite directions, crossing at the middle without colliding. This caused Gajeel and Levy to quicken their jumps and their smiles just grew wider at the challenge.

"Go, Mom!" Yajeh cheered.

"Do it, Dad!" Shutora exclaimed.

"Oh, it's on Shrimp!" Gajeel gihi'ed and kept on jumping without missing a step.

Romeo, Wendy and Asuka's jaws were on the floor at the demonstration of how far a competitive spirit could twist a simple game like jumping the rope.

"Uhm, I think we should leave now…" Wendy commented and stood up, helping Asuka and Romeo to their feet.

"Yeah, see you around Lily." Romeo said as he turned around with Wendy to make their way to the entrance of the house. Lily nodded and waved them goodbye.

"Bye, Shutora! Bye, Yajeh!" Asuka waved goodbye at her friends to which they replied with their "G'bye, Asuka!" at the same time without slowing down their pace at spinning the ropes.

"Thank you for everything guys!" Levy exclaimed, still jumping quickly from one feet to another.

"Yeah, thanks! See ya around!" Gajeel yelled happily and focused his eyes on his feet to not miss a step.

Lily just laughed again at the sight of Gajeel and Levy jumping the ropes and the twins making an effort to spin them faster and faster. It was true that the twins were quite troublesome but they matched their parents' personalities. If anyone could keep up with the energy the twins have was Gajeel and Levy.

 _Oh, I better get the camera_. Lily thought as he rushed to the house to look for the desired object.

When he found it, he heard a loud crash on the backyard followed by a loud 'Dammit!' and loud laughs. Lily looked out from the window on the second floor to see Gajeel lying on the ground unceremoniously and Levy and the twins rolling on the ground while holding their stomachs from how hard they were laughing.

 _Just another day in this troublesome family_.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading! Hope you liked this chapter. I know it's short but I'm trying to write short stories too.**

 **(I sometimes get fic ideas that start to get too complicated and so wide that I just don't have the time to write them down and they just vanish into oblivion. If I practice writing shorter stories maybe I'll be able to write that idea down, simpler story, shorter, and not let it vanish).**

 **I'm kind of unsatisfied by how I ended this chapter, but my brain couldn't come up with other fluffy idea that could give a good closure to this story. So, meh... sorry if you don't like the end but I'm still new at writing fanfiction. If you have any advice go ahead and shoot, please! It will help me lots!**

 **I know I said on tumblr that I was going to post 'First Date' but it didn't come out as I wanted so I deleted all of it (pfft, 3 pages in Word, not that big of a deal). Still, I now know what to do with that prompt and it should be ready by next week (fingers crossed). With more reviews and shares/likes on tumblr I get more and more excited and start working a little bit faster (just as a side note... do what you want with that information gihi).**

 **On other news, I already filed up my application for a scholarship for a master's degree :D (Yay me!). I just have to wait now for the committee's decision on whether I'll be granted the scholarship or not (hope it will go on my favor!)**

 **Thanks again! Have a nice day!**

 **WTF (Where'sTheFood)**


	6. A date was never an easy task (Day 5)

**Hello everyone! I'm on a roll today! Here's Prompt for day 5 of Gajevy week 'First Date'. Hope you like it and tell me your thoughts on this one!**

 **Summary: Gajeel wanted to treat his girlfriend to a nice dinner. He should know by now that things are never that easy for him.**

 **Word count: 5.2 k**

* * *

Things… weren't going as expected… in the least…

"Ugh! We shouldn't have gone there in the first place! I mean… Agh! What a bunch of idiots!"

Gajeel and Levy were walking on the street after they had been 'asked' to leave the fancy restaurant where they were having a nice dinner.

It was their first official date as a couple and Gajeel wanted to do something romantic for his Shorty so he asked Lily for help, which turned out to be Lucy, Mirajane and Lily's help. They suggested this fancy restaurant in Magnolia by the edge of the canal. Supposedly, it was a very exclusive and romantic place and people had to wait at least 2 months to get a reservation there. But with how popular Fairy Tail was and with some favors asked around by Mira and Lucy, Gajeel managed to get a reservation for tonight.

He had been pretty excited, even when he didn't wanted to admit it at first. It was a way to show he cared about the little bookworm and he had been doing his best to behave during the entire meal. But then, his plans went south when the unexpected happened...

"Calm down, Shrimp…" Gajeel walked behind her and he had to speed up to keep up with her. It was a funny scene since Levy's legs were shorter than his but somehow the anger fueled her walking, leaving Gajeel always one step behind.

The bluenette's face was red from fury and the dragon slayer could swear there was steam fuming from her ears. Her fists were clenched tightly to her sides, rosy fingernails digging into her palms but Levy couldn't bring herself to care. She was beyond angry at the people from the restaurant.

"They're idiots, Gajeel! That's what they are! Just some dressed up idio- Ah!" Levy's angry rambling was cut short when her right heel got stuck on the sidewalk and she almost fell face first into the pavement. Almost. Gajeel caught her immediately by her waist and held her up straight.

"Breathe, Shorty." Gajeel said in an incredibly calm voice. He usually was the one who would lose his temper and Levy would be the one saying things to calm him down, but he knew that this time he needed to keep his composure and be the voice of reason. He had his own murderous thoughts directed to those inside the restaurant but now was not the time for him to let his fury get the best of him. Right now, he needed to focus only on Levy.

The solid script mage stopped walking and Gajeel didn't remove his hand from her waist. Instead, he got closer to her and completely encircled her body with his strong arms. Levy's right shoulder was pressed against Gajeel's rock-hard chest and she let her body leaned into him, welcoming the warmth he emanated in this cold night. She didn't look up at him, instead she looked down at her feet, trying to conceal the angry tears that had gathered in her eyes.

"And these…" she seethed through clenched teeth and a shiver traveled down Gajeel's spine at the coldness in her voice. "These shoes… Ugh! I hate high-heels! I don't know how I let Lu-chan talked me into wearing these!" She was shaking in anger and the iron dragon slayer felt sorry for the stellar mage. He knew how dangerous it could be to be on the receiving end of Levy's anger.

As much as she wanted to calm down, Levy couldn't help but still hold on to her anger. It had been a lovely evening with just some minor 'inconveniences' along the way but then she just exploded in rage against the waiter at the restaurant...

 _Inconvenience #1_

Once Gajeel and Levy had arrived to the restaurant and he had asked for their table, the hostess gave them both a 'are you serious you're not in the wrong restaurant' look. It made Levy uncomfortable since it wasn't like they were underdressed for the occasion. If fact, both of them had dressed up nicely for their date.

Gajeel was wearing a black suit with a white button up shirt with matching black shining shoes. He even wore a black tie, that looked somehow a little bit tight, and had his hair tied back in a loose low ponytail. He looked so handsome and Levy couldn't help the blush that tinted her cheeks whenever she sneaked a glance at his gorgeous hulking figure.

As for Levy, both Mira and Lucy had helped her in choosing her outfit, applying makeup and taming her wild blue locks. She was wearing a beautiful white blouse that fell off of her shoulders with a low cut on the back that showed her guild mark. A black pencil skirt hugged her curves just perfectly, reaching just above her knees. She had some light makeup on her face that made her hazel eyes stand out beautifully and her hair was done in a fancy pull up bun with some locks falling down here and there. She wasn't wearing a headband for tonight, but instead she had at least a hundred bobby pins to keep her hair out of her face. Finally, and to most of Levy's dismay, her outfit had been complemented with black high stiletto heels; not that she disliked the shoes, but she wasn't used to wearing them so she had stumbled quite a few times on their way to the restaurant earning an equal amount of teasing remarks from her boyfriend.

Still, the lady at the entrance of the restaurant had stared at them, eyeing the couple up and down several times before checking into her reservation's book to find the name 'Redfox' at the top of the page. She apologized halfheartedly and guided them to their table.

Levy was sure Gajeel was going to make a snarky remark against the hostess or at least huff in irritation at her behavior. The bluenette knew he hated whenever someone passed judgement over him just because of how he looked and he could never stay quiet about his annoyance. It was something she envied about him since most of the times Levy would just hung her head down and tried to act as if the criticism didn't affect her. She liked that he always stood up to those who thought of themselves all high and mighty; not that she ever mentioned it to him.

Instead of the expected behavior, Levy was surprised when Gajeel looked down at her and smiled, motioning her to follow the hostess.

The bluenette took a deep breath to calm her aggravation at the hostess' behavior and smiled back at Gajeel before following the path to their table. Well, if Gajeel wasn't getting angry at this then Levy shouldn't make a big fuss out of it, right?

 _Inconvenience #2_

Once seated at their table, both of them were looking intently through the menu, not quite understanding a single word written there. Sure, Levy was able to translate the menu's language, since it was written in something akin to Boscan to make it look fancier. But she couldn't understand what the dishes meant or if the combinations of flavors even sounded appetizing to her.

On the other hand, Gajeel couldn't even read a single word in the menu but some of the pictures reminded him of some dishes he had cooked once or twice in the past.

They looked up from their menus and an idea struck both of them.

Gajeel shuffled his chair closer to Levy's and she read out loud the menu in Fiorian. Then, Gajeel explained to her about the dishes and the mixing of flavors; sometimes, he even gave his opinion on whether she might like the dish or not.

With their combined efforts, they were able to order their meal.

Still, their waiter gave them an odd look as if he was annoyed that they took too long to decide what they were going to order. He took the menus and left without any other word and his attitude caused Levy to furrow her nose in irritation.

' _Well, if you want us to order faster, you can write the menus in Fiorian… What's the deal with using another language? Steak is steak here and in Bosco_ ' Levy thought while glaring at the retreating back of their waiter.

Surprisingly, or not that much, her attention was brought back to her boyfriend by a flick of his finger to her forehead. She narrowed her eyes at him and he just let out his famous laugh.

"Gihi, we make a good team, am I right Shrimp?" He showed her his charming one-sided grin and that was all she needed for her anger to dissipate. It was incredible how this man was able to brighten her mood with one simple action, even when those actions were rude like flicking her on the forehead.

 _Inconvenience #3_

While waiting for their food, Gajeel and Levy started talking about recent missions and everyday shenanigans from the guild. They were laughing and enjoying their conversation so much that they never noticed they raised their voices slightly.

When the waiter arrived with the first course of their meal, he told them 'politely' to keep their voices down since they were disturbing other customers. At his comment, Gajeel looked at the waiter with eyes that said 'Are you freaking kidding me?'

Levy was sure that the iron dragon slayer was about to say something about that and she wasn't going to stop him since she was also getting very annoyed with the rudeness of the restaurant's employees.

Unexpectedly, Gajeel just crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes as if trying to calm himself down. "Tch, fine." He huffed and dismissed the waiter with a lazy wave of his hand. The waiter vowed after setting their plates down and with an unimpressed expression hurried back to the kitchen.

Levy looked at Gajeel in confusion at how calm he was acting with the whole situation; she sure was very angry right now and would be glad to back him up at yelling at the waiter and the other 'disturbed' customers.

On his part, Gajeel looked up at Levy and nodded his head at her, reminding the bluenette that there was a plate of hot soup just in front of her. Without another word, they dug in and kept talking but now in a quieter tone.

' _Well, if he's not getting angry at this, maybe I'm reading too much into the situation, right?'_ Levy thought through a couple of spoonful of delicious soup.

 _Inconvenience #4_

When they were at the second course of the meal, a delicious steak with salad on the side, Levy noticed Gajeel's eyes shifted to one of the tables on his right. He looked tense and Levy swore she saw him clenching his jaw. Gajeel noticed she was staring at him and relaxed once his eyes landed on Levy's concerned gaze. Then, he smirked at her and kept eating his meal as if nothing had happened.

Levy directed her eyes to the same table her boyfriend had been paying attention to see what got him so tense.

That's when she noticed the whispers.

People from around their table were talking in low voices trying to be discrete about the things they were saying. Levy didn't have dragon slayer's hearing, but she managed to catch some hushed words.

 _Dangerous… scary… uncivilized…_

 _Phantom Lord…_

At that, Levy turned her head to her right to look straight at the woman that dared to mention Gajeel's former guild. That's the moment she realized people around them were talking about her and Gajeel, and about Gajeel's past.

They were judging her boyfriend and she was ready to go to the woman's table and give her a piece of her mind.

"How's it?" Gajeel asked in a deep voice and Levy snapped her attention back at him. She looked at him confusedly and he chuckled at her expression. "Yer food, how is it?" He clarified.

"Oh." Levy looked down at her plate and cut down another slice of meat. "It's good." Her voice was devoid of emotion and Gajeel raised an eyebrow at her questioningly.

"What's wrong?"

Levy sighed and placed her fork and knife down. Then, she leaned forward on the table and spoke in a low voice. "Are you hearing all that?" Her eyes showed concern for him. She knew his hearing was sharper than normal people and if she was able to catch some of the whispers, she wondered what else he was hearing.

He chuckled and looked at her with his crimson eyes. "Don't worry about it, Shrimp. Ignore them." He shrugged and continued eating.

"But, Gajeel… They are being very rude…" Levy had been feeling very uncomfortable in the restaurant since entering and the fact that other customers were talking about him just added up to the uncomfortable situation.

"So what? Let them talk… If they wanna pick a fight, I'll give it to them." He grinned mischievously and Levy giggled. She had to give it to him, Gajeel was acting very maturely with the whole situation.

"Always thinking about fighting…" She rolled her eyes but smiled sweetly at him.

"Ya know me. Gihi." He laughed but stopped abruptly and turned his head to his left. Levy followed his gaze and saw two men looking their way and talking about something Levy couldn't hear. She noticed Gajeel narrowed his eyes at them and his expression promised pain to those men for whatever they had said. The men quickly looked down and shut their mouths when they noticed the dragon slayer's glare.

When he stayed like that for a couple seconds more, Levy reached out and placed her hand over his, drawing his attention back to her. "Let them talk." She said in a kind voice and Gajeel's expression showed his surprise on the fact the Levy was using his own words against him. "If they want a fight, _we'll_ give it to them." She winked coquettishly and he grinned back.

Levy knew that those men probably said something about her, since she was sure Gajeel had heard a lot of comments about him but never reacted the way he just did. She found it adorable that he acted nonchalant when people criticized him but if they even dared to say anything about his girlfriend they would be at the receiving end of a deathly glare and probably a strong punch.

The whispers didn't quiet down but Levy decided to ignore them as Gajeel had suggested. She was happy to be with him and she wasn't going to let some strangers ruin their date.

 _Inconvenience #5 - or as the author likes to call 'the final straw'_

As they were waiting for the dessert, Levy started to talk about one of the latest books she had read which narrated a story full of mystery and suspense. Gajeel was so concentrated in hearing her tale that he didn't notice he started to chew on his fork until he was about halfway through the silver cutlery. Levy laughed at his flustered expression and waved it off, saying that they would just pay a little bit extra to replace the fork.

At that moment, the rude waiter appeared at their table and looked at Gajeel disapprovingly. The iron dragon slayer couldn't care less what the waiter thought about him but he looked down in shame for embarrassing Levy in this fancy restaurant.

"Sir, the cutlery is not included in the menu." The waiter shook his head from side to side and stood up straighter. "I'm sorry but I have to ask for both of you to leave immediately."

Levy looked up at him and frowned. "And why is that?" Her tone was even but held some defiance in it which the waiter didn't liked at all.

"For destruction of restaurant's property _and_ for disturbing other customers."

"Oh really?" Levy stood up and crossed her arms over her chest. Somehow, the serene expression on her face showed the anger she had been bottling up up to this moment. It made the waiter swallowed thickly. Gajeel stared expectantly at her for he had no idea what the little bookworm was about to do or say.

"And here we were just thinking about paying for the fork but I guess you don't care about that anymore, do you? _And_ the fact that we're 'disturbing'" she made air quotation marks "other customers is just because they are **unable to stay out of other people's conversations**!" Levy raised her voice to make sure everyone around her heard her. It worked wonderfully for the patrons in the nearby tables looked at her in shock and fear.

"Miss, you need to calm-"

"No, you're going to listen to me now." Her voice was strong and definite, shutting up the waiter effectively. "You have been very rude to us since the moment we step foot inside your restaurant and I don't care how fancy or popular this place is, you cannot go treating people like that! You're just a bunch of pompous, materialistic and obnoxious bunch of morons!"

"Miss, I suggest you-" The waiter tried to raise his voice but the solid script mage wasn't over with her speech.

"And there's one more thing you must do urgently! So listen carefully: grasp your ears firmly and pull, that way you might just be able to remove your head from your **ass!** (*)" A sharp intake of air from people around told Levy that her speech had the desired effect. Her face was red in fury as she breathed deeply trying to calm down her racing heart.

"That's enough, miss!" The waiter made a motion to grasp her arm but in a blur of movement, Gajeel was standing between Levy and the waiter.

"Don't even think about it." He growled at the man, promising him a world of pain if he dare to lay a hand on his girlfriend. The waiter visibly shivered in fear and took one step back.

Gajeel smirked at the waiter's reaction and grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair. "We're leaving." He motioned for Levy to grab her purse while he tossed some jewels on the table. The bluenette still looked like she had a lot more things to say to the waiter but did as her boyfriend said and walked out of the restaurant with Gajeel close on her heels.

 _End of the list of 'inconveniences'. Back to our fuming bookworm and comforting dragon slayer._

Gajeel noticed Levy was still looking down to the ground and sighed for he was getting quite desperate in trying to comfort his girlfriend. "Why are ya so upset? Just forget about them… It's not like ya to be this angry…"

Levy looked up at him and now he understood what the waiter felt at being at the receiving end of her deathly glare. ' _Oh crap_ '

"Me?! Why are you not angry at any of this Gajeel?! You have been acting like a different person this entire night! And I want to know why!" She prodded him on his chest and Gajeel held her at arm's length.

"I- I just wanted to behave during our date! What the fuck is wrong with that?!" He roared but Levy didn't flinch at his response. She didn't believe a word he just said.

"I know you Gajeel Redfox. Now, tell me what is going on!" She crossed her arms over her chest and cocked an eyebrow at him.

Gajeel clenched his teeth in annoyance but he knew she wasn't going to be fooled by him. "Tch. Fine."

He pulled his left sleeve up and there Levy noticed a rune sequence that circled Gajeel's wrist. She stared at it intently and Gajeel knew he didn't have to explain anything further to his smart girlfriend; she had already figured it out by herself by just looking at the runes.

"Mira?" She questioned and he just nodded confirming her suspicions.

"Threaten to behead me if I didn't use it. And she wasn't talking about the head that's over my shoulders."

"Ugh… un- _fucking_ -believable." Gajeel always loved whenever Levy cursed since it made her look even cuter in his opinion.

It was quite easy to dispel the runes, just one swipe from her magic pen and Levy had the runes vanishing, freeing Gajeel from the written spell. It was an anger-control spell and not very complex, but it helped the one wearing it to keep their temperament on check. Honestly, that was the only reason why Gajeel hadn't punch the waiter in the face or yell at the hostess or even threaten any of the other customers.

Mira got it from Freed and forced Gajeel to wear it.

Levy rubbed her temples in frustration. ' _Why does everyone have the need to meddle into our lives?_ ' She thought and looked up at Gajeel who was rubbing his wrist in the place where the runes had been.

"Better?" she asked him in her sweet and melodic voice.

He grinned at her, noticing that by focusing on something else her anger just started to dissipate. "Yeah, thanks Shrimp."

She beamed at him, proud of being able to help him. She took one step backwards and was about to say 'Anytime' when her right heel got stuck again in the pavement making her lose her footing once more.

Gajeel quickly grabbed her by the waist one more time and prevented her from falling down. As he steadied her, he noticed she started to shake in anger once again and muttered something along the lines of 'stupid shoes' and 'last time I take Lucy and Mira's advice'.

"Alright, time out Shorty." He wasn't going deal with another anger explosion from his girlfriend so Gajeel did what he does best. He hoisted her up on his shoulder and carried her like a sack of potatoes to a nearby bench.

"Put me down, Gajeel!" She hit his back repeatedly with her tiny fists but the dragon slayer didn't let go of her until he reached his destiny. He put her down not so gently on the bench and before she could yelled at him, Gajeel knelt down in front of her, taking in his hand one of her feet.

Levy stared at him in confusion while the dragon slayer carefully examined her shoes. "How much do ya like this shoes?" He asked her and Levy furrowed her brows.

"Hate them with all my gut."

"Gihi, good then."

 **Snap!**

Levy's eyes widened and before she could say anything, she heard another 'Snap!'. She looked at Gajeel who had just removed the high-heels from her shoes. Now, the black stiletto heels were black flats shoes that she found to be much more comfortable and much more like something she would willingly wear on a daily basis.

"Better?" He smirked while she inspected her 'new' shoes with wonder in her eyes. She smiled widely at him and Gajeel felt his heart do a somersault in his chest.

"Yes, thank you!"

He laughed at the irony on how other women would be furious at the mere thought of someone tampering with their shoes, but not his bookworm. No, she was happy to be rid of those high heels and he was glad he played a part on bringing her that happiness.

His laugh was cut short. He choked down while trying to laugh and breathe at the same time. The tightness of his tie didn't help at all to his situation.

Lily had convinced him to wear the black tie to look more elegant but it had been unbearable for Gajeel from the moment he put it on. Not that he isn't used to wearing a tie (heck, he loved his red tie that he uses along with his white suit when performing at the guild) but he was almost certain that the garment was not the right size for him but there was no time for him to go out and purchase another one. So, he got stuck with using the black tie that seemed to have a death grip around his throat.

He tugged at his tie and Levy just noticed how uncomfortable he seemed to be by using it.

"Here, let me help you." She reached out and loosen up the knot on the tie before she took it off from him entirely. Gajeel inhaled and exhaled deeply, feeling relieved to be rid of the constrictive garment.

"Thanks." He smirked and reached out with his hand to ruffle her hair when he stopped just when he was about to place his hand over her head. He had noticed the up-do hairstyle and thought better than to mess up her hair; she probably spent a lot of time fixing it up just for him to mess it up. ' _But damn, I really like to ruffle her hair_ ' he thought while he retreated his hand.

Levy noticed this and deflated slightly. Even when she complained every time Gajeel ruffled her hair, she liked his unique way of showing his affection to her. She frowned and an idea struck her then.

"Hey, Gajeel. How much do you like this tie?" She questioned, showing him the black tie in her hands.

Gajeel quirked an eyebrow at her. "I want to burn that shit to ashes and shove it through Lily's throat." He said in all seriousness and Levy laughed at his answer.

"Good. Can I use it then?"

"Uhm, sure…" He answered carefully, not fully understanding what she wanted to do with the hated garment.

With his approval, Levy reached up to her hair and pulled all the bobby pins out, letting her blue curls fall freely. Then, she used her fingers to comb her hair slightly before placing the tie on her hair and tying it like a bandana around her head. It helped to keep her hair out of her face and it made her look cute and pretty. The black makeshift bandana even combined with her outfit.

"So, how do I look?" She tilted her head to the side and looked up at Gajeel.

He felt how his breath got caught up in his throat even when he wasn't wearing the tie anymore. He forced himself to snap out of the stunned state and smiled at her with so much love that Levy's heart fluttered at the sight of his smile.

"Beautiful." His voice was barely above a whisper but she heard him clearly.

Then, Gajeel leaned down and kissed her gently on the lips. Levy melted into the kiss, feeling all the emotions the dragon slayer transmitted by that simple action. It made her feel light headed and she wrapped her arms around Gajeel's neck to make sure she wouldn't fall down from the bench. When he pulled back, his eyes stared deeply into Levy's and she felt how her cheeks reddened by the intensity of his gaze.

He chuckled at her dazed expression. Then, he stood up and offered her his hand to help her up. "Come on, Shrimp."

"Where are we going?" She took his hand and stood up from the bench, immensely grateful to having not to take one more step on those high heels.

"Well, the night isn't over yet and we still have a date to finish, right?" He smirked down at her when she locked her arm with his.

Levy was confused about what he was talking about. She was almost sure they were going to head back home after the disastrous evening, but it was endearing that Gajeel still wanted to have that promised date. She smiled at him and walked by his side, leaning her head on his muscled arm.

* * *

This turned out to be the best date ever for both Levy and Gajeel.

An hour after being kicked out of the restaurant, the couple found themselves sitting by the big oak tree at Magnolia Park enjoying each other's company. Levy had in one hand a newly purchased book and the other one was tangled in Gajeel's wild mane. She ran her delicate fingers through his hair in a soothing manner that had the dragon slayer practically purring on her lap.

This, this is what happiness felt like.

She had been reading out loud one of her favorite novels and Gajeel had been enjoying every second of it, admiring the expressions coursing through her face and how she subtly changed her voice whenever a different character was speaking.

The moonlight hit her just in the right angle that made her glow in the darkness of the night. It felt reminiscent as of how Gajeel felt about Levy. She was his light in the darkness that had plagued his life and now, been like this with her, he wondered how he could have lived without her in the first place.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" Levy's voice brought him out of his inner thoughts and he just smirked at her confused expression.

He had been staring at her with his crimson eyes just thinking how fortunate he was to have her in his life. Her, the girl he had hurt in the past, was here loving him for who he was, not expecting him to be someone different, not wanting to go out on fancy dinners or pretending to be someone who he wasn't. She loved him just for who he was, the gruff and brash son of a bitch he was, and he really wondered what the fuck did he do right to deserve such a wonderful person as Levy McGarden.

Levy on her part smiled down at him. He had that look in his eyes that told her he loved her with every fiber of his being. This is all she wanted to do for their date. To be the two of them together and comfortable in each other's company. That's what she loved so much about their relationship. He never expected her to be perfect, or wear fancy clothes or high heels. He loved her as much whenever she wore a sundress as when she wore a sweatshirt. She loved that he never forced her out of her passion for books, instead he encouraged her and willingly stayed by her side until she felt satiated with her reading.

They had a rocky start, there was no denying such a fact. But right now, being gazed down with such fierceness by those ruby eyes, Levy would go through the pain, the struggle a thousand times if it meant she would get another chance to be like this with the man she loved.

Gajeel didn't answer her question and she wasn't expecting him to do so. He just pulled Levy down gently into a chaste kiss and she smiled into his lips. She locked her eyes with his and he lost himself in all the emotions trapped inside those hazel orbs.

"I love you too, silly dragon."

Right now, she felt like the luckiest girl alive and he, well he felt like the luckiest son of a bitch in the whole world.

 _'Is this how a first date is supposed to feel like?'_

* * *

 **Thank you so much for reading! Hope you liked it! Remember to share your thoughts with me on this one [Hehe, sorry it's too long but I had to compensate for making lots of you wait so long for an update]**

 **Couple of author ramblings:**

 **1\. I never knew the phrase 'the straw that broke the camel's back'; I was going to use 'the last drop' or 'the drop that spilled the glass' in Inconvenience #5 because in Spanish it is 'la gota que derramó el vaso'. Never heard about the camel before xD sounds funny if you translate it back to spanish.**

 **2\. (** ***) just discovered this phrase ("** Grasp your ears firmly and pull, that way you might just be able to remove your head from your ass!" **)** **and I couldn't stop myself from using it! Hope I used it right!**

 **3\. As mentioned in tumblr, I still have one more prompt to go (Grief). The last prompt-Living together inspired me to write a Council series and the one-shot I had planned for that prompt will be used as one of its chapters (hope I'll have more time to write soon so it can be up faster)**

 **Thanks again for reading! One more prompt to go!**

 **WTF (Where's The Food)**


	7. Downpour of the heart (Day 6)

**Hello! Final prompt; for day 6 of Gajevy week I present you 'Grief'**

 **Word count: 1.3k (record for shortest story I've ever written)**

* * *

Today the rain poured down hard and the weather only helped to reflect how she felt on the inside. It was a difficult day, it always was whenever this date came around the corner but for some reason Levy thought that with the passing years it would be easier on her. Every year she was proven wrong.

"Hi." Her voice was above a whisper but she knew there was no need to speak any louder. She would be heard loud and clear.

The rain kept pouring down on her. She left her umbrella back in her house and she knew she was soaking wet from head to toes but she honestly couldn't bring herself to care anymore.

She knelt down in front of the grey gravestone and her black leggings stained with dirt and grass, but again she didn't care. She felt empty on the inside, a big contrast to the cheery smile she usually wore at the guild and at home. Right now, there was no one else with her, so she didn't have to feign she wasn't hurting. She didn't have to pretend there wasn't a void in her heart that not even the years seemed to fill in.

"I'm sorry, I know it's been a long time since I visited you." Her eyes were downcast in shame but she willed herself to continue.

"It's been so crazy the last couple of months." A faint smile graced her lips before she started telling the shenanigans that the twins had been doing.

This was something she did every time she came to this place. A part of her knew there was no need to talk about the things that happened at the guild or at home because everything that occurred on Earthland could be seen and heard from above. Still, it brought peace to her mind to talk as if her audience was right there with her in the physical plane. Words were always a comfort for her; words helped her go through the worst of the first days, when this gravestone was put up and engraved.

So, she talked. An hour passed and she kept talking. She spoke about how Shutora mastered her rune spells in record time. She bragged how proud Yajeh looked like after finishing his first solo-mission. She explained how Lily got an especial assignment from the Council regarding the official registration of every Exceed as a citizen of Fiore. And she recited the last chapter of Lucy's novel.

Levy laughed lightly while mentioning how the guild kept getting new members, most of them being the children of her closest friends.

"The guild is rowdy as usual but you already knew that, don't you?" She giggled. "Natsu and Gray's kids have some sort of rivalry but I truly believe that Nashi has a slight crush on Silver, even when she doesn't want to admit it." The mirth left Levy's eyes when she remembered something else.

"The twins keep asking me about you and I tell them what I know. I tell them stories every night of what you did and how you were when you were around. Still, they get sad that they didn't have the chance to meet you in person." A tear escaped her eyes and her shoulders started to shake trying to keep down the sob threatening to leave her lips.

"I… I try to be strong for them-" Her voice cracked. "I'm really trying to be strong for my family but i-it's too hard. It's too hard not having you here with me. And I-" a sob broke past her lips and she finally let the tears fall freely from her eyes.

"And I really miss you."

She placed a hand over her mouth trying to conceal the heartbreaking sobs that she let out. She finally allowed herself to cry like she hasn't cried since that day. Everything that had happened recently at the guild and at home brought back painful memories, memories she couldn't keep bottling up. That's why she came to the graveyard today. She felt like drowning in her own sorrow and Levy just needed to let it all out.

A hand on her shoulder made her notice that the rain wasn't falling down on her anymore. She didn't have to look up to know who was responsible for that. He always knew where to find her. She placed her own hand over the one on her shoulder and squeezed it in gratitude.

"I'm sorry I made you worry." She said and she truly meant it.

"Ya should at least have taken the umbrella with ya." A warm jacket was draped around her shoulders and just then she looked up to thank him for the gesture.

With an umbrella on one hand, Gajeel knelt down beside her and placed his other arm around her shoulders. It was his way of showing her that he was there for her. That she didn't have to go through this alone.

"I'm sorry. I didn't wanted to be a burden." She honestly said and he just hugged her tighter to him.

"Ya're never a burden, Lev. I'm always here fer ya, got it?" She expected him to yell at her for being so reckless by trying to catch her death in this unforgiving downpour but he was acting calmer than usual and much more understanding of her feelings. She was incredibly grateful for that.

"Thank you." She rested her head on his shoulder and they stayed like that with their eyes locked to the gravestone in front of them.

"I was just telling them about Yajeh's last mission." A smile crept into his face and he looked down at her for a moment before returning his gaze to the gravestone.

"He's so badass like his father, am I right?" She nodded in agreement and giggled at his modesty. "Did ya tell them about how Shutora is even smarter than her mom?" His voice showed the fondness he held for his kids.

"Yes, I did."

"Probably it's thanks to them that the kiddo will be the smartest girl in history, gihi."

She laughed and her smile reached up to her eyes. "Yes, it probably is."

She leaned further into him and he rubbed circles on her back soothingly. It was so like him to not know how to deal with emotions and painful feelings, but he always managed to find a way to be her emotional support whenever she felt the world crumbling down around her. That's just one of the many things she loved about this man.

It worked both ways. She had been there when Metallicana vanished after the battle with Tartaros and she had helped him cope with the loss of his foster father. And now, he was here showing her his support in front of her parents' gravestone. She sighed content with having such a wonderful person as her husband.

"Ya okay?" He asked her with concern and she smiled up at him.

"Yeah. I will be." And she meant it. She squeezed his hand one more time and finally tore her eyes from the gravestone and turned to her husband. "Let's go home."

He stood up and helped her up. Then, hand in hand they headed back to their home.

This day would always be hard for her. It didn't matter how old one gets, you would always miss your parents. Levy had lived her life without them since she was 11 years old. But now, on the anniversary of their death, she at least had Gajeel for emotional support. It would never be easy on her when this date would come around, but the burden will be less painful in her heart and soul. She knew this and that's why she smiled up at her loving husband.

The rain finally gave away as some rays of sunshine shone down into the wet ground. One ray of light shone brightly, illuminating the engraving in the grey gravestone.

' _Oliver and Maura McGarden. Loving friends and parents.'_

* * *

 **Say what? Yes, Gajeel's alive. I couldn't bring myself to kill him, it was just too painful for me to bear. What do you think of this story? (I must say that I love English since it's pronouns helped me greatly in this story ['you' could be interpreted as Gajeel but it was meant for Levy's parents]; hope I didn't mess up something. English isn't my first language hehe)**

 **So finally I finished up all the prompts for Gajevy week (still, Living together will come around in the Council series, you'll just have to wait a little while for that one). Thank you to everyone that has supported me either with a review, favorite, follow or even just reading. Thank you so much!**

 **I know I haven't answered a lot of reviews and I will get to do that soon (promise). Still, wanted to let you know that I have read each and every one of your reviews and they make my heart swell with pride at knowing there's people out there enjoying my writing.**

 **On the side note, 'Grief' was the prompt that inspired me to participate in Gajevy week 2017 and I find it poetic that it's the prompt with which I conclude my participation in this amazing project.**

 **To those who are still waiting on the epilogues of 'For whom do you stand for?' I will get to write those down soon. Thank you for your patience and I hope I'll be up to your expectations.**

 **Follow me on tumblr (** whereisthefood123) **for updates and news about my next stories (I have several plots lined down but I have to find the time to put them down into words) I'll probably take some request if I get stuck with writer's block but I'll let you know.**

 **Again thank you so much and I hope you'll stick around for more of my stories.**

 **WTF (Where's The Food)**


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